CHICAGO, March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aon Corporation (NYSE: AOC - News) today announced the availability of Aon Environmental Edge(SM), a customizable program and the first of its kind to provide global coverage for environmental exposures with limits up to $300 million for the most complicated risks.  

"Every global corporate holding company with debt and equity assets -- including financial institutions and private equity firms -- faces environmental exposures at many levels," said Veronica Benzinger, senior vice president of Aon Environmental Services. "By leveraging Aon's environmental expertise and industry relationships, we were able to structure an all-inclusive program that offers our multinational clients a unique, convenient and fiscally responsible solution."

Once assessed, environmental liability is strict, joint and retroactive; there is no statute of limitations. Environmental liability survives bankruptcy as well as dissolution of the liable entity. Unlike typical environmental insurance policies, Aon Environmental Edge encompasses legal liability protection across the board and around the world, without the need for scheduling specific locations or activities.

Corporations have long-enjoyed a false sense of security created by the "innocent lender" legal protection status and the protection of individual assets by corporate veil, or limited liability protection. Aon Environmental Edge helps fill the gaps in general liability and directors' and officers' policies, rendering obsolete these insufficient umbrellas of security.

    Environmental exposure can stem from many areas and transactions. For
example:

    - Lenders' liability        - Successor liability
    - Investors' liability      - Loss of collateral value of impaired
                                  properties
    - Ownership of real estate  - Inability to foreclose on contaminated
                                  collateral
    - Disposal site liability   - Trading and transportation of
                                  cargo/commodity/product

Structured to respond in the event the corporate veil is pierced, Aon Environmental Edge imparts a broad insuring agreement for third party claims arising from environmental conditions alleged to be caused by an insured entity. Additionally, the program manages this risk in a cost-effective manner, all on a single policy.

About Aon Environmental Services Group

Aon Environmental Services Group provides a unique integration of risk identification and control by bringing together processes, people, and approaches to address the environmental risks of our clients, which include Fortune 500 corporations and governmental entities. These liabilities -- reaching far beyond a single peril or event -- pose a serious threat to the success of a business as well as a broad spectrum of transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs and liability buyouts. The team evaluates and assesses the environmental risks of its clients, and relies upon its client dedication, innovation and creation of new opportunities to implement integrated environmental risk management solutions.

About Aon

Aon Corporation (NYSE: AOC - News) is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting. Through its 43,000 professionals worldwide, Aon readily delivers distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Our industry-leading global resources, technical expertise and industry knowledge are delivered locally through more than 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Aon was ranked by A.M. Best as the number one global insurance brokerage in 2007 based on brokerage revenues, and voted best insurance intermediary, best reinsurance intermediary, and best employee benefits consulting firm in 2007 by the readers of Business Insurance. For more information on Aon, log onto http://www.aon.com.

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