Xerox Selling Last Financial Services Unit

Xerox Corp. said it will sell its Crum & Forster insurance unit to Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. for $680 million, completing its five-year exit from the financial services business. Toronto-based Fairfax has agreed to pay Xerox $565 million in cash for the commercial property and casualty insurer and assume $115 million of debt. Xerox, the Stamford, Conn.-based copier machine manufacturer, said it will take a charge of less than $200 million in the first quarter as a final write-off for exiting financial services businesses it purchased in the 1980s. The company merged seven financial units in 1993, when it decided to get out of the business and concentrate on selling copiers. Crum & Forster, based in Morristown, N.J., has about 1,650 employees and wrote $939 million of premiums last year. Xerox shares rose $1.06 to close at $94.75 on the New York Stock Exchange.