Business Moves

AssuredPartners, Bateman Agency

Lake Mary, Fla.-based AssuredPartners Inc., through its subsidiary Donald F. LaPenna Associates Inc. in Clark, N.J., has acquired Bateman Agency Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Bateman Agency is an independent insurance firm located in Somerville, N.J. The firm specializes in coverage for businesses, including inland and ocean marine insurance, builders’ risk, professional liability and bonds; and insurance for individuals, including homeowners’, renters’, and flood.

As part of the acquisition, Bateman Agency will continue to operate out of its Somerville location under the leadership of Donald LaPenna, president of Donald F. LaPenna Associates.

Doug Bateman, who has been serving as president of Bateman Agency, will join LaPenna as a producer, and continue to work with his clients.

Cross Insurance, Driscoll Agency

Bangor, Maine-based Cross Insurance, a subsidiary of Cross Financial Corp., has acquired Driscoll Agency, an independent insurance agency based in Norwell, Mass. Terms were not disclosed.

Driscoll Agency specializes in risk management services and surety bonding. The agency represents more than 100 contractors throughout New England, providing risk management programs and surety bonding lines of credit.

Since its founding in 1954, Cross Insurance has grown through the acquisition of more than 100 insurance agencies throughout New England.

Arthur J. Gallagher, KK&T

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Kent, Kent & Tingle, a retail insurance broker based in Shreveport, La. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 1989, Kent, Kent & Tingle (KK&T) provides employee benefits, property/casualty and risk management insurance services, and specializes in the oil and gas, construction, manufacturing, distribution and medical industries. The group offers group health, welfare and wellness plans, employee benefits consulting services, commercial property/casualty insurance coverage and risk management consulting services for their clients throughout the southern United States.

Fred Kent and his colleagues will continue to operate in their current location under the direction of John Neumaier, head of Gallagher’s South Central employee benefit consulting and brokerage operations, and Mitchel Brashier, head of Gallagher’s Southeastern property/casualty brokerage operations.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an international insurance brokerage and risk management services firm, is headquartered in Itasca, Ill.

Patriot National, Stonewood

Patriot National Insurance Group Inc., a workers’ compensation insurer based in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., has a new partnership with Stonewood National Insurance Co. for a health care industry program in the Midwest.

Under the partnership arrangement, Patriot will write workers’ compensation through its managing general agency, Patriot Underwriters Inc., and Patriot will serve as a program administrator with defined underwriting and claims settlement authority, according to a company announcement.

The program is focused in select Midwestern states on segments within the health care industry.

Stonewood is an affiliate of the Franklin Holdings, a Bermuda -based holding company with companies that specialize in underwriting select lines of casualty insurance and reinsurance.

This is Patriot’s second partnership with an A-rated insurance carrier and comes shortly after a $28-million capital infusion into Patriot’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Guarantee Insurance Co., the company said.

Patriot National Insurance Group has two operating subsidiaries – Guarantee Insurance Co. and Patriot Underwriters Inc.

Stonewood Insurance Cos., headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., is the specialty admitted insurance platform of James River Group Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Franklin Holdings Ltd. of Hamilton Bermuda.

XL, Global Ag

XL Reinsurance America Inc., a subsidiary of XL Group plc, has acquired Global Ag Insurance Services, a crop insurance provider based in the western United States.

The two companies initially partnered in 2011 to deliver crop insurance solutions to western specialty crop producers and growers through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) multi-peril crop insurance program. The two companies then built a specialized platform to offer an alternative to growers and agents in the western United States.

XL Group plc’s reinsurance companies offer products that include aerospace, property/casualty, marine and specialty.