 Shares of property and casualty insurer National General Holdings Corp. NASDAQ: NGHC are surging in early afternoon trading Wednesday, up 64.8 as of 1:35 p.m. EDT after insurance giant Allstate NYSE: ALL announced yesterday that it will purchase National General. In its press release, Allstate stated that it will spend 4 billion to acquire all shares outstanding of National General, paying 32 per share, cash, as the purchase price, plus payment of National Generals final dividend as an independent company -- 2.50, cash. Allstate CEO Tom Wilson noted that acquiring National General accelerates Allstates strategy to increase market share in personal property-liability and significantly expands our independent agent distribution, adding that the acquisition increases personal lines premiums by 4.0 billion and market share by over 1 percentage point to 10. 