Business Moves

Grain Dealers/Main Street

Grain Dealers Mutual Insurance Co., an Indiana-domiciled regional property/casualty insurance company, will become an affiliate of Florida-based Main Street America if approved by the Indiana Department of Insurance. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Grain Dealers Mutual operates in nine states, with its largest volume in North Carolina, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Indiana. In 2008, it wrote $33 million in direct written premium. Its product mix is 65 percent commercial, 35 percent personal. The predominant line is commercial multi-peril, followed by homeowners and private passenger auto.

With the affiliation, Main Street America will be entering some new states, as well as increasing its presence in several existing states. Main Street America expanded its operations to the Midwest last year when it acquired Michigan-domiciled Great Lakes Casualty Insurance Co.

Grain Dealers Mutual president and chief executive officer Don Malcom will continue to oversee the company’s daily operations out of its Indianapolis headquarters. Grain Dealers Mutual will also maintain its regional service office in Greensboro, N.C.

The Main Street America Group is a super regional insurer that operates in 24 states.

AmTrust, Swiss Re’s CyberComp

New York-based specialty property/casualty insurer AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. has agreed to acquire CyberComp, the Internet-based workers’ compensation business unit of Swiss Re, in a renewal rights transaction.

Serving small to medium-sized employers in 26 states, CyberComp distributes through a network of 13 regional wholesale and 600 retail agencies. In the 12 month period ending June 30, 2009, net written premium totaled approximately $100 million. Swiss Re purchased CyberComp in 2006.

Gallagher/Gresham

National insurance brokerage Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired two New England offices of Atlanta-based wholesale broker Gresham & Associates Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The offices are in Portland, Maine and Cranston, Rhode Island.

Louisiana Retailers

Workers’ compensation insurer Louisiana Retailers Mutual Insurance Co. has received regulatory approvals to convert to a mutual insurance holding company, consisting of Retailers Casualty Mutual Holding Co. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Retailers Casualty Insurance Co. It will continue to provide coverage in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

FPIC/Advocate

Jacksonville, Florida-based medical liability insurer FPIC Insurance Group Inc. will acquire Advocate, MD Financial Group Inc. of Austin, Texas for $33.6 million. Advocate, MD is the fourth largest provider of medical professional liability insurance in Texas and also writes in Mississippi. FPIC will operate it as an independent subsidiary.

Topics Louisiana Mississippi