Business Moves – Southeast

Peachtree, Personable Holdings

A Florida domiciled auto insurer that provides coverage to 18,000 drivers in the state and Georgia has been acquired by California equity firm looking to enter the non-standard market.

Peachtree Casualty Insurance Co. is licensed to market insurance in 38 states, although the bulk of its book of business is in Florida and Georgia. Specializing in the non-standard auto market, it currently has 400 agents.

The insurer was sold to Personable Holdings Inc., a California equity firm that was formed in August 2011 as a partnership with the Denver-based Excellere Partners and Align Financial Group Inc., for the purpose of entering the non-standard market.

The Peachtree acquisition was part of a deal whereby Personable Holdings acquired the Smyrna, Georgia-based Network Holdings Inc. and its managing general agent, First Insurance Network Inc.

The deal has been approved by Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation.

Personable Holdings underwrites $50 million in products in California, Texas, Georgia and Florida and is looking to make other acquisitions. The company has offices in San Diego and Irving, Calif., and in Atlanta, with more plans to open other offices.

K2 Insurance, Midwestern

San Diego, Calif.-based managing general agent K2 Insurance Services LLC has acquired a majority stake in Midwestern Insurance Alliance Inc., an MGA based in Louisville, Ky. for workers’ compensation with a focus on transportation.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The investment is the first for K2, formed in 2011 to invest in other MGAs and build a national insurance program business franchise. With the added capital support, Midwestern will expand its territory to 17 states, including Texas and California.

Fifty-two-year-old Midwestern reports annual gross written premiums of $35 million. Midwestern previously underwrote business in Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina and Tennessee. Besides California and Texas, its expanded territory now includes Alabama, Nevada, Utah, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia.

BrickStreet, PennCommonwealth

Charleston, West Virginia-based workers’ compensation writer Brickstreet Insurance has acquired Canonsburg, Penn.-based workers’ compensation insurer PennCommonwealth Casualty of America Corp. Details of the deal weren’t released.

The West Virginia Legislature created Bricksteet in 2005 to replace a state-run workers’ compensation system. BrickStreet spun off as private company the following year.

Red Ventures, HomeInsurance.com

Charlotte, North Carolina-based technology firm Red Ventures has acquired the online homeowners insurance site, HomeInsurance.com.

HomeInsurance.com, based in Wilmington, N.C., offers competitive quotes on home insurance from Travelers, Hartford, Safeco, Foremost, Progressive and other insurers.

Red Ventures said the acquisition of the online insurance agency is part of its strategy of expanding into new industries. The acquisition will increase the size of Red Ventures’ workforce by more than 10 percent, and adds a fourth location to its existing campuses in South Carolina, Texas and Florida.

Red Ventures partners with brands to help them acquire customers. Its partners include companies in different industries including entertainment, data and internet, small business services, security, energy and software services. The company uses proprietary technology to market and sell services through online and offline channels.

Liberty Mutual, KIT-Russia

Liberty Mutual said it would enter the Russian market with a deal to acquire KIT Finance Insurance, which primarily writes auto coverage in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Liberty Mutual is buying KIT from a holding company controlled by the state transport monopoly Russian Railways and its pension fund.

Boston-based Liberty Mutual gets just over a quarter of its net written premiums from international markets. Passenger auto is the largest line within that segment.

U.S.-based insurers have lately been pushing for international growth after years of weakness in domestic rates. Most have focused on Asia or Latin America, though, rather than the $21 billion Russian market.

KIT Finance has a small piece of that market, with about $50 million in written premiums last year, though Liberty said it has been growing at a 27 percent annual rate.

Cunningham Lindsey

Cunningham Lindsey, an insurance claims management company controlled by buyout firm Stone Point Capital LLC, is up for sale and could fetch more than $1 billion, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Stone Point owns a majority stake in Cunningham Lindsey, while property/casualty insurer and reinsurer Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. owns a large minority stake.

Stone Point bought a controlling stake in Cunningham Lindsey from Fairfax in December 2007 through its fourth private equity fund — Trident IV — paying about C$88 million for a 51 percent interest. It owned 43.2 percent of the company as of the end of 2011, with a fair value of about $230 million.

Cunningham Lindsey’s senior managers have invested about $10 million in the company. In January last year, Cunningham Lindsey bought the U.S. loss-adjusting business of GAB Robins North America Inc. It did not disclose the terms of the deal.

Sources told Reuters that Cunningham had an EBITDA of around $120 million, which at a multiple of 10 times would value the company at more than $1 billion.

Topics California Florida Texas Workers' Compensation Georgia Virginia Russia Insurance Wholesale