The financial woes of Chiquita Brands International Inc. finally hit the books of American Financial Group Inc. in 2000.

        American Financial, the umbrella company for Carl Lindner Jr.'s financial empire, took a $91.4 million loss to write down its investment in Chiquita, it said Monday.

        AFG and the Lindner family own about 24 million shares of Chiquita common stock. Chiquita said in January that it would restructure about $862 million in debt, a move that could land it in bankruptcy court.

        Overall, American Financial lost $56 million, or 95 cents a share, in 2000. In 1999, the company earned $141.4 million, or $2.35 a share.

        Carl Lindner III, co-president and head of American Financial's property-and-casualty operations, said the Chiquita loss did not affect AFG's core units.

        He said the company would continue to increase rates — more than 40 percent in its nonstandard auto insurance business — to purge unprofitable lines from its income statement. It expects that to show in better profits this year, Mr. Lindner said.

        Even the California workers' compensation business, one of American Financial's most difficult in 2000, shows signs of stabilizing, he said in an afternoon conference call with Wall Street analysts.

        “We're operating in a hard market there, and achieving significant rate increases,” he said. “We like what's going on.”

        Net written premiums increased 16 percent in the property-and-casualty business and 14 percent in the specialty group.

        Great American Financial Resources Inc., AFG's life and annuity unit, earned $54.7 million, or $1.29 a share, in 2000, down from $58.8 million, or $1.39 a share, in 1999.

        Statutory premiums increased 41 percent to more than $1 billion.

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