Business acquisitions

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Business Combinations [Abstract]

Business acquisitions

(2) Business acquisitions

Our long-held acquisition strategy is to acquire businesses that have consistent earning power, good returns on equity and able and honest management. Financial results attributable to business acquisitions are included in our Consolidated Financial Statements beginning on their respective acquisition dates.

On October 1, 2018, we acquired Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company (“Medical Liability Mutual”), a writer of medical professional liability insurance domiciled in New York. At that time, Medical Liability Mutual’s name was changed to MLMIC Insurance Company (“MLMIC”). The acquisition price was approximately $2.5 billion.  As of the acquisition date, the fair value of MLMIC’s assets was approximately $6.1 billion, including cash ($230 million) and investments ($5.2 billion), and the fair value of its liabilities was approximately $3.6 billion, consisting primarily of unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses ($3.2 billion).

In each of the past three years, we also completed several smaller-sized business acquisitions, which we consider as “bolt-ons” to several of our existing business operations. Aggregate consideration paid for bolt-on acquisitions, net of cash acquired was approximately $1.7 billion in 2019, $1.0 billion in 2018 and $2.7 billion in 2017. We do not believe that these acquisitions are material, individually or in the aggregate to our Consolidated Financial Statements.