Business Moves

Arthur J. Gallagher, Tudor

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Tudor Risk Services in Woburn, Mass. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2009, Tudor Risk Services is a retail insurance broker providing property/casualty, risk management services and employee benefits insurance and consulting services. Tudor offers property/casualty insurance coverage, group health, welfare and wellness plans, and employee benefits consulting services for commercial and high net worth clients throughout the northeastern United States. The firm specializes in the technology, life sciences, healthcare and ambulatory, real estate, financial and professional services and manufacturing industries.

William Frain III, Thomas Porell and their colleagues will operate under the direction of Douglas Brown, head of Gallagher’s northeastern retail property/casualty brokerage operations, and David Ziegler, head of Gallagher’s eastern employee benefit consulting and brokerage operations.

Mercer, Transition Assist

Mercer, a human resources consulting subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Cos., has reached a definitive agreement to purchase Transition Assist. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2008, Norwell, Mass.-based Transition Assist specializes in benefits consulting and helping retirees in employer-sponsored plans select Medicare supplemental healthcare insurance. Mercer has more than 20,000 employees in 43 countries.

Confie Seguros, Ida Tunnell Insurance

Confie Seguros, a national provider of personal lines insurance, has acquired Ida Tunnell Insurance in Marble Falls, Texas, near Austin. Confie Seguros now has 120 offices in the state.

Founded in 1991, Ida Tunnell provides personal lines auto and homeowners insurance.

Established in 2008, Confie Seguros is a California-based national insurance distribution company operating in 17 states and primarily focused on the insurance needs of Hispanic consumers.

The company has market positions in California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Washington, Oregon, New York, New Jersey, Nevada, Illinois, Alabama, Kansas, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Missouri, Louisiana and Indiana, and expects to continue its expansion in those and other states, including Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina.

Hub International, Corporate Benefit Consultants

Global insurance brokerage, Hub International Ltd. (Hub), announced that its subsidiary Hub International Midwest (Hub Midwest) has acquired Corporate Benefit Consultants Inc. (CBC), a Des Plaines, Ill.-based employee benefits insurance brokerage firm.

The CBC team will operate from their Des Plaines office. CBC partners, Ted A. Reese, James M. Cornelius and Michael A. Traina and their team will join Hub Midwest.

Headquartered in Chicago, Hub provides property/casualty, life/health, employee benefits, investment and risk management products and services through offices in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Brazil.

Genstar Capital

Mid-market private equity firm Genstar Capital Management LLC has partnered with an insurance industry veteran to create a new platform company, Palomar Insurance Holdings, which will initially serve as a provider of commercial and residential earthquake insurance.

Concurrent with the investment, Palomar acquired an admitted insurance company from a national insurer licensed to underwrite business in seven states and has changed the name to Palomar Specialty Insurance Co.

Genstar didn’t make known what company was acquired.

However, according to public records from Oregon, Cottage Insurance Holdings Inc. in late 2013 filed a statement regarding the acquisition of Northwestern Pacific Indemnity Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Pacific Indemnity Co., a Wisconsin corporation controlled by the Chubb Corp.

Cottage was formed in 2013 and is funded by Genstar to acquire and hold the stock of Northwestern, according to the records.

In February, Reuters reported that Fitch Ratings withdrew Northwestern’s ‘AA’ Insurer Financial Strength due to reorganization because it was no longer affiliated Chubb due to a private sale.

San Francisco-based Genstar, formerly the private equity firm behind Confie Seguros until Confie was acquired by Boston-based private equity firm ABRY Partners in 2012, focuses on investments in selected segments of the financial services, software, healthcare and industrial technology industries.

Genstar said it has partnered with David M. Armstrong to establish Palomar Insurance, which was funded with $75 million of equity capital from Genstar and the management team.

Palomar has received a Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and an Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” from A.M. Best Co. A.M. Best assigned a stable outlook to both ratings.

Topics A.J. Gallagher