Under the terms of the agreement, each holder of common stock of NCRIC will have the right to receive 0.25 of a share of ProAssurance common stock for each share of NCRIC common stock. The transaction is subject to required regulatory approvals and a vote of NCRIC stockholders and is expected to close early in the third quarter of 2005. "The foundation of ProAssurance and our successor organizations is built on identifying and successfully integrating companies that strengthen our ability to expand our existing business," said Dr Derrill Crowe, chairman and CEO of ProAssurance. NCRIC, which holds a dominant market position in its home market of Washington, DC, also operates in Delaware and Virginia, making it an attractive addition to the ProAssurance family of insurance companies. Crowe continued, "NCRIC is the largest writer in Delaware and one of the top four writers in Virginia. ProAssurance had already targeted both states for growth, so we have an understanding of the market and we think this transaction will give us an important boost." The proposed transaction would add $87.2 million in gross written premiums to ProAssurance's Professional Liability segment and increase ProAssurance's assets by $292.9 million, based on NCRIC's unaudited 2004 results. ProAssurance expects the transaction to be accretive to book value per share in 2005.