• Gina dela Vega-Cruz

LAST MARCH 21, major newspapers in the country like the Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star and Business Mirror, as well as the tabloids Libre, Sun Star Pampanga and Pampanga News carried full-page ads announcing the management buy-out of Berkley International Philippines, Inc. (BIPI) by Danvil Holdings, Inc. owned by our former Executive Vice-President-Chief Financial Officer Daniel L. Villanueva.

For those of you, dear planholders, who may have missed the ad, we would like to announce that Berkley Plans, Berkley Life and Family First, being subsidiaries of BIPI, are all part of the management buy-out. Their names, logos and trademarks will soon be changed.

W.R. Berkley Corporation sold the company because all of its other businesses in the United States are property and casualty insurance. Its Philippine operations were the only business in their portfolio that was into life insurance and pre-need.

Although the business was most successful and profitable for them, as evidenced by our garnering more than 50% of the market share last year (in terms of new business for educational plans) and our consistent placing for several years now among the Top 5 of the industry, W.R. Berkley Corporation decided to consolidate all of its interests and resources back into their core business.

We would like to assure you that the sale carries with it the obligation to assume the financial responsibilities of the selling company, W.R. Berkley Corporation through its subsidiary Berkley International, LLC. This means that ANY and ALL financial responsibilities and liabilities will be assumed, maintained and respected in good faith by the new owner.

The above includes, among others, contractual obligations as contained in the terms of your existing pre-need plan contracts and life insurance policies issued by the three aforementioned Philippine subsidiaries.

The new owner and President of the company, Mr. Villanueva, is the one largely credited with strengthening the already formidable financial resources of Berkley here. Berkley has been a financially reliable and strong provider through all these years because Mr. Villanueva was its EVP-Chief Financial Officer, prudently managing and investing all of the company's financial assets. This leadership should augur well for the new company and for you, our dear planholders. Rest assured that now, more than ever, your trust continues to be most well-placed.