News Room

February 14, 2003

Assurant Group Proposes to Build New Hazard Insurance Service Center in Florence, S.C.

$14 Million Project Will Create Approximately 560 New Jobs

ATLANTA/FLORENCE, S.C.: Assurant Group today announced plans to build a $14 million office complex for its flood and hazard insurance tracking center in Florence, S.C., and to create about 560 new jobs over the next two years.

The new service center would consist of two 50,000 square foot one-story buildings that Assurant would build and own in Celebration Centre, a new office park being developed off West Palmetto Street (Route 76) in Florence. While the project’s location has been and remains contingent on state and county approval of certain financial incentives, Assurant said the company hopes to begin construction within 30 days and move to the new site by yearend.

Headquartered in Atlanta and Miami, Assurant is the leading provider of flood and hazard insurance tracking services and lender-placed hazard insurance to the U.S. mortgage industry.  An existing, smaller-scale Florence service center now located at 1935 Second Loop Road is one of four outsourcing centers operated by the company. The others are inDuluth, Ga., Orange, Calif., and Springfield, Ohio.

“We are very excited about this project and its potential for both the company and the community,” said Michael Tange, a vice president of Assurant and manager of the Florence center.  “We are bursting at the seams in our current building.  The larger facility and expanded workforce will enable us to significantly increase the portfolio of loans that we can service in Florence.”

Tange said additional factors influencing Assurant’s decision to expand in Florence included the availability of a quality labor pool, competitive labor and construction costs, the support of community leaders and the site’s proximity to a major client.  Tange said that the staffing process for the new site would begin in the fall of 2003.

“Job number one in this administration is going to be raising income levels in South Carolina,” said Gov. Mark Sanford.  “That’s why I think that Assurant’s announcement today is welcome news on a couple of fronts.  It’s not only great news for the Pee Dee, but it’s also great news in strengthening the underlying business climate that’s so critical to raising incomes.”

Florence County Council Chairman John Floyd also welcomed the announcement.  “We appreciate the commitment of Assurant Group to help us create quality jobs in Florence County,” he said.

Dr. Charlie Gould, chairman of the Florence County Economic Development Partnership, pointed to the project as further evidence of Florence County’s continuing economic vitality.  “Two of our Partnership’s major goals are to help our existing firms grow and to further diversify our economy,” he said.  “This exciting announcement by Assurant Group is evidence that our efforts are paying dividends for our citizens.”

A predecessor of Assurant established the existing Florence center in 1996 to service Fleet Mortgage Corp.’s mortgage portfolio.  Assurant retained that business when Washington Mutual Inc. acquired Fleet Mortgage in 2001. The Florence center currently has about 135 employees. The proposed expansion calls for increasing Assurant’s employment in Florence to about 700.

Barry Real Estate Companies of Atlanta has been selected to serve as developer for the project.  Brasfield & Gorrie of Birmingham, Ala., has been selected to serve as general contractor.

About Assurant Group

Assurant Group provides specialty risk management products and services to consumers through partnerships with leading financial institutions, auto and manufactured home dealers and retailers. These products include specialty property insurance, debt protection programs, extended service contracts and certain membership programs.

Headquartered in Atlanta and Miami, Assurant does business throughout North America, Latin America and Europe.  The company has more than 5,600 employees and operations in 11 states in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, Ireland, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom.

Assurant is part of Fortis, an international financial services provider active in the fields of insurance, banking and investment. Fortis ranks 31st based on assets and 85th based on revenues on the Fortune ‘Global 500’ (July 22, 2002) and 38th on the Forbes Global ‘Super 50’ list (July 3, 2002). Fortis is listed on the Amsterdam (FORA), Brussels (FORB) and Luxembourg (FOR LX) stock exchanges and has a sponsored ADR program (FORSY) in the United States.

Assurant Group is a service mark of Fortis, Inc.
Financial information as of December 31, 2001.

Media contact

Helen Munnerlyn
South Carolina Department of Commerce
803.737.0481
e-mail: hmunnerl@teamsc.com

J. Michael Eades
Florence County Economic Development Partnership
843.676.8796
e-mail: mikeeades@florenceco.org

James A. Sykes
Director, Corporate Communications
Assurant Solutions
260 Interstate N. Circle, SE
Atlanta, Ga. 30339-2111
Telephone: 770.763.1015
FAX: 770.859.4325
E-mail: james.sykes@assurant.com

Reference: 0302