Markel Announces Diamond Healthcare Acquisition

RICHMOND, Va., Jan. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Markel Corporation (NYSE: MKL) announced today that its Markel Ventures subsidiary has acquired a majority interest in Diamond Healthcare Corporation, a privately held company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia that manages behavioral health programs throughout the United States.  All members of the Diamond management team will remain in place. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Markel Ventures owns and manages the affiliated investment activities of Markel Corporation. With the addition of its two most recent acquisitions, Diamond and RD Holdings, announced on December 15, total annualized revenues of Markel Ventures are expected to exceed $250 million in 2011.

Additionally it was announced that Bill Weirich will be joining the Markel Ventures team as a managing director. Bill is joining Markel from Matrix Capital with over 25 years of experience in middle market investment banking. He will assist Markel in the management and growth of Markel Ventures.

Markel Corporation markets and underwrites specialty insurance products and programs to a variety of niche markets. In each of these markets, the Company seeks to provide quality products and excellent customer service so that it can be a market leader. The financial goals of the Company are to earn consistent underwriting profits and superior investment returns to build shareholder value.

This release contains statements concerning or incorporating the Company's expectations, assumptions, plans, objectives, future financial or operating performance and other statements that are not historical facts. These statements are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  There are risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from predicted results in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those predicted are set forth under "Risk Factors" and "Safe Harbor and Cautionary Statement" in Markel Corporation's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Visit Markel Corporation on the web at www.markelcorp.com.

SOURCE Markel Corporation