Zenith Insurance Company is an American

insurance company Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

headquartered in California specializing in

workers' compensation Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...

insurance. It has been an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian

Fairfax Financial Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited is a Canadian financial holding company based in Toronto, Ontario, which is engaged in property, casualty, insurance and reinsurance, investment management, and insurance claims management. The company oper ...

since 2010. Zenith operates nationally in the workers' compensation insurance business and conducts business through independent agencies and brokers.

History

Zenith National Insurance Corporation was established in 1949. In 1971, Zenith went public and was listed on the NASDAQ stock market.https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/109261/000104746903008809/a2095692z10-k.htm In 1978, Stanley Zax was hired as Zenith's chief executive officer. In 1987, the company was listed on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

under the ticker symbol ZNT. In 2010, Fairfax Financial agreed to buy Zenith in a deal that valued the company at around $1.3 billion US. The deal was negotiated by Fairfax CEO

Prem Watsa Prem Watsa (born 5 August 1950) is an Indian-Canadian billionaire businessman who is the founder, chairman, and chief executive of Fairfax Financial Holdings, based in Toronto. He has been called the "Canadian Warren Buffett." He was awarded th ...

. A group of Zenith shareholders sought to prevent the sale by going to court, but a court dismissed their claims on April 22, 2010. The combined company became seventh-largest workers’ compensation insurer in California. In 2015, the company was part of a settlement with the city of San Mateo arising from the collapse of

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...

References

{{Reflist 1949 establishments in California American companies established in 1949 Financial services companies established in 1949 2010 mergers and acquisitions Financial services companies based in California Companies based in Los Angeles Insurance companies of the United States American subsidiaries of foreign companies Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Fairfax Financial