Homeowners Choice receives OK to assume Citizens policies

Homeowners Choice Inc., a Florida based insurance holding company, announced that its wholly-owned insurance subsidiary, Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Company Inc., has been authorized by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation to assume an additional 60,000 homeowners’ policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Florida’s state-owned insurance company. The authorization is subject to a maximum assumption of 30,000 policies in December 2009.

“This additional takeout authorization by the Florida OIR reflects our solid financials and capitalization as well as our successful track record assuming policies from Citizens,” said F.X. McCahill, chief executive officer of Homeowners Choice. “With the current infrastructure we have in place, we are well equipped to assume the maximum 30,000 policies before the end of 2009, provided they meet our stringent underwriting criteria.”

The policies are assumable under Florida’s take-out program, which encourages private insurance companies to assume policies from Citizens to reduce the state’s risk exposure. Citizens, which began as Florida’s home insurer of last resort, is now Florida’s largest homeowners’ insurance provider with more than 1 million policies in force.

Homeowners Choice Inc. is headquartered in Clearwater. Through its subsidiary corporations, Homeowners Choice provides property and casualty homeowners’ insurance, condominium owners’ insurance and tenants’ insurance solely to Florida property owners. Founded in 2006, Homeowners Choice serves approximately 53,000 policyholders throughout Florida representing approximately $100 million in annualized premiums.

The company’s common shares trade on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker symbol HCII and were recently added to the Russell Microcap Index. Warrants trade on the same market under the ticker symbol HCIIW. More information about Homeowners Choice Inc. is available at www.hcpci.com. 