Xerox to Sell Insurance Unit to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts

Xerox Corp. has agreed to sell its Talegen insurance business to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for more than $2.2 billion, a source familiar with the situation said Wednesday.

The deal could be announced as early as today, the source said. Xerox and KKR, a New York-based investment company, declined to comment.

Xerox will take a charge of more than $1 billion against fourth-quarter earnings from the sale of the property and casualty insurance lines, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The price is below the business’ book value, and the charge mostly represents a write-off for the loss on the sale, the source said. The charge would also include funds to bolster Talegen’s cushion for losses against future claims, the source said.

The sale will bring to an end Xerox’s roughly two-year effort to sell its troubled property-casualty businesses, which it acquired in the early 1980s. Xerox stock climbed $2.50 to $136.625 on the New York Stock Exchange.