Insurance Firm Family Life Sold To Conglomerate

SEATTLE

Seattle-based Family Life Insurance Co. was sold this week to a Texas insurance conglomerate, and some Family employees can expect to be laid off, the state insurance commissioner's office said.

Merrill Lynch Insurance Group Inc., which bought Family Life in 1974, sold the insurer for $114 million to Financial Industries Corp. of Austin, Texas.

A Family Life employee called The Times to say he and dozens of others had been told their jobs will end in mid-August.

Family Life was formed in 1949 and specialized in selling mortgage-life insurance.

Financial Industries Corp. owns several other life-insurance companies and intends to keep Family Life operating as a separate entity, said Edward Southon, deputy insurance commissioner.