Liberty Mutual Profit Falls 8.7% on Private Equity

Liberty Mutual Group Inc., the policyholder-owned insurer that purchased Safeco Corp. last year, said profit dropped 8.7 percent as rates fell and private equity investments declined in value.

Second-quarter net income declined to $274 million from $300 million in the same period a year earlier, the Boston-based insurer said today in a statement. Policy sales excluding results at its Safeco unit slipped about 12 percent to $5.55 billion.