Old Republic Purchase of PMA Part of Growing Acquisition Trend

Shareholders in PMA Capital Corp. accepted Tuesday a merger and acquisition proposal from Old Republic International Corp., in what is the latest in a growing number of purchases involving workers' compensation insurance providers.Old Republic offered to pay $228 million and assume PMA's $137 million in debt, making the transaction worth $365 million. Terms of the deal call for Old Republic to swap between 0.5 and 0.6 shares of its stock for every outstanding share of PMA Capital, which the company says represents a 15% premium over the closing price of PMA's stock on June 8, the l...