Business Moves
OneBeacon, Interboro
OneBeacon Insurance Group completed the sale of its AutoOne business to Interboro Holdings of New York.
The transaction, which was announced on Aug. 31, 2011, included AutoOne Insurance Co. and AutoOne Select Insurance Co., along with the assets, liabilities (including loss reserves and unearned premium reserves), and the capital of the business, as well as substantially all of the AutoOne infrastructure including systems and office space, as well as certain staff. AutoOne, with offices in Melville and Syracuse in New York State, is a high-risk personal auto insurance provider. Interboro was formerly Interboro Mutual, which was placed in rehabilitation by state regulators in 2004. It emerged from insolvency in 2007.
USI, The Pinnacle Group
USI Insurance Services, an insurance brokerage and financial service firm in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., acquired most of the assets of The Pinnacle Group.
Based in Virginia Beach, Va., Pinnacle is a full-service employee benefits consulting firm specializing in middle-market business and is expected to contribute roughly $3.3 million in annual revenues to USI. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
USI Insurance said the Pinnacle acquisition strengthens the firm’s existing mid-Atlantic organization and its expanding employee benefit practice in Virginia. Pinnacle CEO and founder Anthony Jernigan and the rest of Pinnacle’s staff will join the USI team.
Enservio, Insurers World
Enservio, a Needham, Mass.-based provider of property insurance analytics, affinity marketing and claims solutions, is acquiring Insurers World, a provider of inventory transcriptions and evaluation services for claims, based in Canton, Mass.
Together, Enservio and Insurers World will offer property insurers a range of services from strategic analytics to claims software and services nationally. As a combined entity, Enservio will provide services to 12 of the largest property insurers in the nation, with over 300 insurer customers and over 450 employees nationally.
Wells Fargo Insurance
Wells Fargo Insurance — part of Wells Fargo & Co. — announced a new regional structure for its insurance brokerage and consulting division.
The business previously operated with 15 regional offices, but is now based upon seven regions, with approximately 160 local offices. The new regions consist of: Northwest, Southwest, West, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, South and Northeast. The Northeast region will include Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
“This new structure more strategically connects our offices within each market and across the U.S. and better aligns the insurance division with other Wells Fargo business units,” the company stated.
Ironshore
Ironshore Inc. announced the opening of a property/casualty production center in Boston dedicated to the insurance wholesale market, serving the East Coast, including New England, New York, Atlanta and the Mid-Atlantic regions.
The new production center will complement Ironshore’s Risk Agency, a unit of Ironshore Insurance Services LLC, located in St. Louis, that will continue to serve the wholesale insurance market through its Central and Western geographic footprint within the U.S. Ironshore said St. Louis and Boston offices both have dedicated P/C teams focusing on coverages of Ironshore’s U.S. product offerings — through its wholesale distribution network.
Allied World U.S.
Allied World U.S. has expanded its professional lines operations through the launch of a new mergers and acquisitions division.
The new division will initially offer representations and warranties insurance, loss portfolio transfers, loss mitigation insurance/litigation buy-outs, tax opinion liability and specific contingency insurance.
“Despite current economic conditions, M&A activity has been on the rise in the U.S. over the past several years and the demand for adequate coverage is growing,” said John McElroy, president, Professional Lines.
First Sealord
First Sealord, a bond and surety insurance company in Villanova, Penn., has been placed in receivership. The company’s businesses were dragged down by the troubled construction market.
First Sealord Surety began its operations in 1991 as a mono-line insurance company underwriting surety bonds. The firm insured construction general contractors and subcontractors against loss. Until recently, when it stopped writing bonds, it offered coverage in 39 states.