Basis of Presentation (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Basis of Presentation

Loews Corporation is a holding company. Its subsidiaries are engaged in the following lines of business: commercial property and casualty insurance (CNA Financial Corporation (“CNA”), a 90% owned subsidiary); the operation of offshore oil and gas drilling rigs (Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (“Diamond Offshore”), a 50.4% owned subsidiary); interstate transportation and storage of natural gas (Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP (“Boardwalk Pipeline”), a 55% owned subsidiary); exploration, production and marketing of natural gas and oil (including condensate and natural gas liquids) (HighMount Exploration & Production LLC (“HighMount”), a wholly owned subsidiary); and the operation of hotels (Loews Hotels Holding Corporation (“Loews Hotels”), a wholly owned subsidiary). In the first and third quarters of 2012 Boardwalk Pipeline sold 9.2 million and 11.6 million common units through public offerings for $245 million and $311 million, reducing the Company’s ownership interest from 64% to 58%. In October of 2012, Boardwalk Pipeline sold an additional 11.2 million units for $292 million, further reducing the Company’s ownership to 55%. As a result, the Company will record an increase to Additional paid-in capital (“APIC”) in the fourth quarter of 2012 of approximately $36 million. Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms “Company,” “Loews” and “Registrant” as used herein mean Loews Corporation excluding its subsidiaries and the term “Net income (loss) – Loews” as used herein means Net income (loss) attributable to Loews Corporation.

In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements reflect all adjustments (consisting of only normal recurring accruals) necessary to present fairly the financial position as of September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011 and the results of operations and comprehensive income for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011 and changes in shareholders’ equity and cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011.

Net income for the third quarter and first nine months of each of the years is not necessarily indicative of net income for that entire year.

Reference is made to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in the 2011 Annual Report on Form 10-K which should be read in conjunction with these Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements.

The Company presents basic and diluted net income per share on the Consolidated Condensed Statements of Income. Basic net income per share excludes dilution and is computed by dividing net income attributable to common stock by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the period. Diluted net income per share reflects the potential dilution that could occur if securities or other contracts to issue common stock were exercised or converted into common stock. Stock appreciation rights of 2.3 million, 3.2 million, 2.7 million and 2.1 million shares were not included in the diluted weighted average shares amount for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011 due to the exercise price being greater than the average stock price.

Hardy Underwriting Bermuda Limited (“Hardy”) – On July 2, 2012, CNA acquired Hardy, a specialized Lloyd’s of London (“Lloyd’s”) underwriter primarily of short-tail exposures in marine and aviation, non-marine property, specialty lines and property treaty reinsurance. Hardy has business operations in the United Kingdom, Bermuda, Bahrain, Guernsey and Singapore. For the year ended December 31, 2011, Hardy reported gross written premiums of $430 million. The purchase price for Hardy was $231 million and resulted in CNA recording $55 million of identifiable indefinite-lived intangible assets, $81 million of identifiable finite-lived intangible assets and $35 million of goodwill.

PL Midstream LLC – On October 1, 2012, a joint venture between Boardwalk Pipeline and Boardwalk Pipelines Holding Corp. (“BPHC”), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, acquired PL Midstream LLC, a company that provides salt dome storage, pipeline transportation, fractionation and brine supply services, for approximately $625 million. The acquisition was funded with proceeds from a $225 million five-year variable rate term loan and equity contributions by BPHC of $269 million for a 65% equity interest and of $148 million by Boardwalk Pipeline for a 35% equity interest.

On October 15, 2012, Boardwalk Pipeline acquired BPHC’s 65% equity interest in the joint venture for $269 million, which was funded through the sale of common units, and will not result in any significant adjustments to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Accounting Changes

Accounting Changes – In October of 2010, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued updated accounting guidance which limits the capitalization of costs incurred to acquire or renew insurance contracts to those that are incremental direct costs of successful contract acquisitions. The previous guidance allowed the capitalization of acquisition costs that vary with and are primarily related to the acquisition of new and renewal insurance contracts, whether the costs related to successful or unsuccessful efforts.

As of January 1, 2012, the Company adopted the updated accounting guidance prospectively as of January 1, 2004, the earliest date practicable. Due to the lack of available historical data related to certain accident and health contracts issued prior to January 1, 2004, a full retrospective application of the change in accounting guidance was impracticable. Acquisition costs capitalized prior to January 1, 2004 will continue to be accounted for under the previous accounting guidance and will be amortized over the premium-paying period of the related policies using assumptions consistent with those used for computing future policy benefit reserves for such contracts.

The Company has adjusted its previously reported financial information included herein to reflect the change in accounting guidance for deferred acquisition costs. The impacts of adopting the new accounting standard on the Company’s Consolidated Condensed Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2011 were a $106 million decrease in Deferred acquisition costs of insurance subsidiaries and a $37 million decrease in Deferred income tax liabilities. The impacts to Accumulated other comprehensive income (“AOCI”) and APIC were the result of the indirect effects of the Company’s adoption of this guidance on Shadow Adjustments, as further discussed in Note 2, and CNA’s acquisition of the noncontrolling interest of CNA Surety in 2011.

The impacts on the Company’s Consolidated Condensed Statements of Income for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011 were a $59 million and $171 million decrease in Amortization of deferred acquisition costs, a $59 million and $178 million increase in Other operating expenses, resulting in no impact and a $5 million decrease in Net income and no impact and a $0.02 and $0.01 decrease in Basic and Diluted net income per share. There were no changes to net cash flows from operating, investing or financing activities for the comparative periods presented as a result of the adoption of the new accounting standard.