ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 23, 1993                   TAG: 9309230105
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                 LENGTH: Short

PRIMERICA, TRAVELERS IN MERGER TALKS

Primerica Corp. is negotiating to acquire The Travelers Corp. in a $3.9 billion stock deal that would create one of the biggest financial-services companies in the United States.

Primerica, which mushroomed with its recent $1.1 billion acquisition of the Shearson Lehman Brothers retail brokerage operation, would be renamed The Travelers. Primerica already owns 27 percent of the Hartford-based company.

The new company would deal with life, health and property-casualty insurance; commercial lending; consumer finance; and the huge Wall Street brokerage operation Smith Barney Shearson.

Analysts said the deal, announced Wednesday by Primerica, was likely to go through.

The combined companies would have assets of around $95 billion, making it the fifth-biggest U.S. financial services firm behind such giants as American Express and Merrill Lynch, according to Fortune magazine.

On the New York Stock Exchange, Primerica's stock was up $1.37 1/2 to close at $47.37 1/2 while Traveler's rose 75 cents to close at $36.75. 

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.
by CNB