Business Moves

Raintree Insurance, PacWest Alliance

PacWest Alliance Insurance Services Inc. welcomed its newest member: Raintree Insurance Agency Inc.

Raintree Insurance Agency is an independent insurance agency with offices in San Bernardino and Moreno Valley, Calif.

PacWest is a California-based insurance cluster that represents more than $200 million in written premium.

PPIG, Priority Insurance Underwriters

Pacific Pioneer Insurance Group, the parent company of UCA General Insurance and Pacific Excess Insurance, acquired Priority Insurance Underwriters. Located in Arizona, PIU is a wholesale broker that does business throughout the Western and some Midwest states. This acquisition will broaden the UCA and Pacific Excess territories, the company said.

Farmers

Los Angeles Farmers Insurance, which has called Southern California home since its founding in 1928, will move employees from its Simi Valley office to a more modern facility in nearby Woodland Hills in California’s San Fernando Valley.

The move will affect approximately 1,200 people, or 20 percent, of its Greater Los Angeles workforce. The Woodland Hills facility is already home to some Farmers employees and the building currently is branded 21st Century Insurance Co., but the name on the building will be changed to Farmers Insurance. (21st Century Insurance Co. was acquired by Farmers Insurance in July 2009).

AIG, Fortress Investment

American International Group Inc. is selling most of its consumer finance unit to Fortress Investment Group at a deep discount and will recognize a $1.9 billion pretax loss as a result.

AIG, majority owned by the U.S. government, said it will sell 80 percent of American General Finance to Fortress, a hedge fund and private equity firm, as it restructures after a bailout.

It will retain the rest of the business, hoping to benefit if American General does well under Fortress.

AIG and Fortress did not disclose terms of the transaction. AIG said it valued its investment in the unit at $2.4 billion.

AIG said in a regulatory filing reporting the sale that it will recognize the $1.9 billion loss in the third quarter.

SUNZ

SUNZ Insurance Co. of St. Petersburg, Fla., has gained the rights to provide workers’ compensation in four more states within the southern half of the country. The additional states are Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Arizona.

SUNZ, which is five years old, began by providing workers’ comp programs to professional employer organizations and staffing companies within Florida. In mid 2009, the executive management team decided to take the company to a regional next level.

Topics California AIG