Business Moves

Fiesta Auto

Huntington Beach, Calif.-based Fiesta Auto Insurance, a franchise system to combine insurance and tax preparation under one roof, announced it has opened 20 new locations during the past 90 days. The company’s unprecedented growth phase has increased its presence to more than 60 open locations throughout the United States. The new locations include shops in Pembroke Pines, Pompano Beach and Palm Springs, Fla. Fiesta Auto Insurance plans to have more than 150 locations open by the end of 2010, and 1,500 during the next five years.

National Interstate, Vanliner

Ohio-based National Interstate Insurance Co. will acquire Fenton, Mo.-based Vanliner Insurance Co., a subsidiary of UniGroup Inc. Vanliner provides insurance for the moving and storage industry. National Interstate will pay approximately $125 million to $135 million in cash. Vanliner wrote approximately $104 million of gross moving and storage premiums in 2009, representing approximately 58 percent of its total business.

Keystone, Jessie, Insurance Service

Keystone Insurers Group has added two more to its growing list of partner agencies in Kentucky. Jessie Insurance Agency of Campbellsville and Insurance Service Centers of Southeast Kentucky increase to 16 the number of KIG partners in Kentucky and join KIG’s network of more than 200 independent agencies in six states.

OIR, Magnolia Insurance

A Leon County, Florida judge has given state officials the go-ahead to liquidate home insurer Magnolia Insurance Co. Magnolia Insurance Co. was placed under administrative supervision by Florida insurance regulators last December after the Office of Insurance Regulation found it to be in unsound financial shape. Its president, H. James Irl, resigned.

Any Magnolia policies still in effect will automatically cancel on May 30. According to the OIR, Magnolia’s policy count has been reduced from about 74,000 last December to about 30,000 policies now. Magnolia began doing business in April, 2008, with $20 million in capital and 100,000 policies shifted from Citizens.

21st Century Holding, HomeWise

Florida’s 21st Century Holding Co. has dropped its bid to acquire domestic property insurer HomeWise Holdings. The company said that, after due diligence, its agreement in principle to acquire certain businesses from HomeWise Holdings, Inc., which was originally announced on March 23, 2010, has been “terminated by mutual decision of the parties.”

Michael H. Braun, CEO and president of 21st Century Holding Co., said that while his firm is no longer pursuing the HomeWise acquisition, it will continue to grow its existing lines of business and “seek opportunities where the business model and strategies enhance the value of the company.”

Allstate Florida (Castle Key)

The Florida companies of Allstate Insurance Co. have been writing new homeowners and renters business for several months and have now indicated they may also assume some policies from the state-backed insurer, Citizens Insurance Corp.

Amy Moore, Allstate media representative for Florida, confirmed that Castle Key subsidiaries plan to write about 50,000 new multi-line policies between now and next year but said a decision on how much business to take from Citizens would not be made until January 2011.

In Florida, Allstate operates as Castle Key Insurance Co. ($156 million and surplus and 157,000 policies) and Castle Key Indemnity Co. ($14.1 million in surplus and 76,536 policies). Allstate changed the names of its Florida subsidiaries to Castle Key in July 2009.

The interest in new Florida business is a switch for Allstate. In 2005, Allstate began scaling back in Florida and dropped about 95,000 policies.

Topics Florida Kentucky