Business Moves

Risk Strategies Company, McLaughlin Brunson Insurance Agency

National insurance brokerage and risk management firm Risk Strategies Co. has acquired Dallas-based McLaughlin Brunson Insurance Agency.

McLaughlin Brunson provides insurance products and services to architects, engineers and certified professional accountants in Texas and Oklahoma.

The firm will be known as McLaughlin Brunson, a Risk Strategies Company, and will continue to operate with its current staff, led by its two principals, Joe A. Bryant and John Krantz.

Risk Strategies has offices in more than 25 locations.

Integro, Jerry Insurance Parks Group

International broker and risk management firm Integro Insurance Brokers has added to its livestock coverage capabilities with the acquisition of Ocala, Florida-based corporations Jerry Parks Equine Insurance Inc. and Parks Insurance Corp. Financial details of the transactions have not been disclosed.

Industry veteran Jerry Parks established the Jerry Parks Equine Insurance Inc. in 1986 to provide equine mortality insurance. In 1990, he expanded into farm and ranch owner coverage with the launch of Parks Insurance Corp.

Jerry Parks and his team will report to Brian Morgan, Integro’s Atlanta operations leader.

Integro is an international insurance brokerage and risk management firm.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., KRW Insurance Agency

Insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired KRW Insurance Agency Inc. located in Crystal Lake, Ill. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Established in the 1940s, KRW Insurance Agency (KRW) is a retail insurance broker providing commercial property/casualty, risk management, employee benefits and personal lines insurance and consulting services. The firm specializes in insurance coverage for the construction and manufacturing industries.

Patrick Morehead, Alan LaSarre and their associates will continue to operate from their current location under the direction of Michael Pesch, head of Gallagher’s Midwest region retail property/casualty brokerage operations.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. is based in Itasca, Ill.

BrickStreet, HM Insurance

BrickStreet Mutual Insurance said it finalized an agreement to acquire the workers’ compensation block of business from Pittsburgh-based HM Insurance Group, a Highmark company.

The purchase involves workers’ compensation policies and accounts for roughly $120 million in premium.

HM’s current workers’ compensation employees will become BrickStreet employees and remain in Pennsylvania, effective Aug. 1.

BrickStreet is a monoline workers’ comp provider based in Charleston, W. Va., with offices in Charlotte, N.C., and Naperville, Ill. The company currently writes business in 12 states, including Pennsylvania, as well as the District of Columbia.

The purchase will allow BrickStreet to further expand its presence in Pennsylvania and the region.

According to BrickStreet Chief Executive Officer Greg Burton, the company is opening a regional office in downtown Pittsburgh and will continue to use HM’s established agents in Pennsylvania.

BrickStreet Insurance, a mutual company owned by its policyholders, became West Virginia’s first private workers’ compensation carrier on Jan. 1, 2006.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, HM Insurance Group is a national carrier of employer stop loss.

Confie, Sprague, Mason

National insurance distribution firm Confie has acquired two insurance brokerages in New York State – Lloyd D. Sprague & Son Inc. and J.N. Mason Agency Inc.

Confie, a portfolio company of ABRY Partner, has completed 11 acquisitions thus far in 2016.

Sprague Insurance is a third-generation agency that has been continuously owned and operated by the Sprague family since 1921. Based in Corning, Sprague offers personal lines and small commercial insurance. Andrew and Christine Sprague will continue in management capacities with the company, and Sprague’s 12 employees will continue with Confie to operate the business.

J.N. Mason Agency, Inc. serves customers in New York and Pennsylvania from its New York locations in Hancock and Monticello, offering personal lines and small commercial insurance.

J.N. Mason’s operations will continue at their two current locations and Confie is retaining all eight employees.

Confie is a California-based national insurance distribution company primarily focused on personal lines and small commercial insurance.

Hub, Gateway Financial Affiliated Agency

Global insurance brokerage Hub International Ltd. has acquired the assets of Tenth Dot Benefit Solutions, an employee benefits agency in Pittsburgh that is affiliated with Gateway Financial Group Inc. and does business as Gateway Financial.

Following the transaction, Hub will operate the business as Gateway Benefits, a division of Hub International.

Tony Perricelli, founder and president, will join Hub’s wholly-owned affiliate, The HDH Group Inc., as executive vice president. Bill Gallagher, managing consultant, will join Hub/HDH as market leader, senior vice president of the combined Employee Benefits practice. Both Perricelli and Gallagher will report to Tony Kocis, president of Hub/HDH.

FM Mutual Insurance, Barrier Free Access

SFM Mutual Insurance Co., a Midwest regional workers’ compensation insurer, has acquired Barrier Free Access, a Byron, Minn.-based provider of safe patient handling products, design consultation and training to medical facilities throughout the upper Midwest.

Through selling and training on products such as overhead patient lifts, Barrier Free Access helps facilities across the continuum of care protect their employees and patients from injury.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, more workers are injured in the healthcare and social assistance industry than any other sector.

Barrier Free Access started in 1991 as a division of a construction company specializing in home remodeling to allow individuals with disabilities to stay in their homes. The company phased out of construction and became a distributor for a wide variety of products designed for acute, post-acute and residential healthcare facilities.

The company has offices and a showroom in Byron, Minn., and recently opened a new design and training center in New Brighton, Minn.

In its 25 years in business, the company has grown steadily by working with customers to identify their needs and then collaborating on a solid plan to meet them.

Advantage Benefits Solutions, Collins Benefits Solutions

Advantage Benefits Solutions (ABS) and Collins Benefits Solutions, both based in Houston, are merging. Together, the two employee benefits firms manage collective premiums of $58 million, according to an announcement.

The merger is led by Mark Stefanick of Advantage Benefits Solutions and Mary Collins of Collins Benefits Solutions.

The new organization will operate under the Advantage Benefits Solutions (ABS) banner.

Cobbs Allen

Cobbs Allen, a risk management firm specializing in commercial insurance, employee benefits, personal insurance and alternative risk financing services, is expanding its operations into Houston. The expansion project is part of a larger strategy to increase specialty services, expertise and world-class benefits at a national level, starting with Midwestern states of Kansas, Texas and Louisiana.

Bruce Denson Jr., president and chief operating officer, leads the company’s strategic planning and growth initiatives. Denson, along with a team of experienced leaders, are building upon the company’s 129-year-old legacy and strength of service in order to bring the Cobbs Allen approach to caring for companies’ overall health to new markets nationwide.

Leading Cobbs Allen’s Houston office are three senior vice presidents: Josh Kirklin, previously with McGriff, Seibels & Williams; Mark Mullervy, previously with Lockton; Robert Plumb, previously with J.H. Blades & Co.; and Senior Account Executive Annette Griggs, also previously with Lockton.

Western, Nevada General

Western National Insurance Group of Edina, Minn. has completed the purchase all of the stock of Las Vegas-based Nevada General Insurance Co., AIC America, and its wholly owned affiliates Auto Insurance America (New Mexico) and Auto Insurance America (Arizona) from Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance Co.

The closing follows due diligence and the receipt of approval by Nevada General’s shareholders, Western National’s board of directors, and regulatory authorities. Terms of the deal were not revealed.

Nevada General and its affiliates will continue to operate locally in Las Vegas, reporting to Western National’s existing nonstandard auto insurance company, Arizona Auto Insurance Company, based in Phoenix.

The newly added companies will continue to write non-standard auto insurance in Nevada and New Mexico, under the management and control of Western National and with its full financial support.

Western National is a super-regional property/casualty insurance group writing in 19 states, plus surety in an additional seven states.