Insurers put premium on their growth policy.

• Position: Industry Overview

It doesn't pay to stand still in the insurance business anymore. Need proof? Take a look at the buying and selling frenzy among North Carolina companies in 1995.

Greensboro-based Jefferson-Pilot Corp. completed its biggest acquisition ever in October, buying Michigan-based Alexander Hamilton Life Insurance Co. for $575 million. That came just a few months after it acquired Kentucky Central Life.

In July, PennCorp Financial Group, a New York insurer whose operations are largely in Raleigh, bought Winston-Salem-based Integon Life Insurance Co. The acquisition more than doubled PennCorp's assets, to about $2.8 billion.

And in August, three months after Durham-based Coastal Physician Group's deal to buy Mid-South Insurance Co. fell through, the Fayetteville-based group health insurer was snapped up by Richmond, Va.-based Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Then in November, PHP Inc., the state's third-largest HMO, announced a merger with managed-care giant United HealthCare Corp. of Minneapolis.

Jefferson-Pilot's buying spree marks an abrupt change in strategy. For years, JP sat on its cash. But after longtime CEO Roger Soles retired in 1993, his successor, David Stonecipher, began scouting for deals. The company is expanding into managed care in the Triad and southern Virginia and is also eyeing the Charlotte market.

PennCorp has grown steadily since moving its administrative operations from California to Raleigh in 1991, but it took its biggest leap with the Integon Life deal. Since Integon Life split from its sister company, auto insurer Integon Corp., in 1992, it's struggled to find its niche. It put itself on the market in 1994 and had one deal fall through before agreeing to sell to PennCorp for about $80 million. The results so far are good - PennCorp's operating earnings gained 22% in the second quarter on revenue growth of 21%. And the company cut costs when it laid off more than 100 workers at Integon Life's Winston-Salem offices.

For Mid-South to remain independent, it would have had to take on much-bigger competitors. HMOs are invading Mid-South's turf - offering health plans to small employers in the Southeast. Unlike PennCorp, which absorbed Integon Life, Trigon Blue Cross plans to retain Mid-South's identity, including its Fayetteville headquarters and all 120 employees.

Regional Acceptance, the Greenville-based consumer lender, is facing increasing competition, forcing it to become more aggressive in its underwriting. Its accounts...