Business Moves
USI, Wells Fargo
USI Insurance Services announced the closing on its acquisition of Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA, formerly part of Wells Fargo & Co.
This purchase includes the commercial insurance brokerage and consulting, employee benefits and property/casualty insurance national practices of WFIS, along with its Safehold Special Risk, small business insurance, student insurance, individual health and private risk management business lines. Terms were not disclosed.
The plan to sell the business to USI was announced in June.
Wells Fargo Insurance Services writes or places about $9 billion worth of premiums annually, according to its website.
USI, headquartered in Valhalla, New York, has more than $1 billion in revenue, employs more than 4,400 professionals and operates out of 140 local offices serving every state.
Wells Fargo has said it is exiting the insurance business to focus on its core banking business.
Wells Fargo’s personal lines insurance unit is not part of the sale to USI. However, Wells Fargo announced this month that it is winding down its personal insurance business. The company said the exit process should be finished during the first quarter of 2018.
Hartford
The Hartford has agreed to sell Talcott Resolution, its run-off life and annuity businesses, to a group of investors led by Cornell Capital LLC, Atlas Merchant Capital LLC, TRB Advisors LP, Global Atlantic Financial Group, Pine Brook and J. Safra Group.
The deal will complete the insurer’s exit from the life insurance business.
Total consideration to The Hartford is $2.05 billion, comprised of cash from the investor group, a pre-closing cash dividend, debt included as part of the sale, and a 9.7 percent ownership interest in the acquiring company. The total consideration amount does not include $1.4 billion in dividends previously paid by Talcott Resolution in 2017.
The sale is anticipated to close in the first half of 2018.
The sale does not include the company’s group benefits or mutual finds subsidiaries, which will be transferred to another Hartford subsidiary. In addition, immediately after closing, Talcott Resolution will reinsure a portion of its fixed annuity, payout annuity and structured settlement businesses to a subsidiary of Global Atlantic Financial Group.
As part of the transaction, about 400 Hartford employees will become employees of the new company and will be located at offices currently owned or leased by The Hartford in Windsor, Connecticut, and Woodbury, Minnesota.
NIF Group, Agency Intermediaries, A.I.I.
NIF Group Inc., a wholesale broker, program administrator and managing general agency, and its parent company JenCap Holdings LLC, have agreed to acquire privately held Agency Intermediaries Inc. and A.I.I. Insurance Brokerage of Mass. Inc. Both affiliated entities serve as MGA/contract binding authorities and wholesale insurance brokerages, respectively located in Guilford,
Conn., and East Douglas, Mass.
Agency Intermediaries Inc. was formed in 1980 by Ray Connors Sr. and Manja Connors. Erina Connors joined in 1983, focusing on excess and surplus lines. Since 1998, A.I.I. has been led by Erina Connors and Julie Sonier.
Agency Intermediaries Inc. and A.I.I. Insurance Brokerage of Mass. Inc. serve independent agents in Connecticut and Massachusetts in placing excess/specialty lines business.
With offices located on the East and West coasts of the U.S., NIF has been serving agents and brokers since 1976. It was acquired by JenCap Holdings in December 2016.
Through the acquisition of A.I.I., NIF now expands its footprint in the Northeast.
JenCap Holdings was formed in March 2016 by The Carlyle Group and JCH management to consolidate specialty insurance distribution businesses.
The acquisition of Agency Intermediaries Inc. is the sixth such transaction by JCH, which is headquartered in New York, N.Y.
The Hilb Group, HR Knowledge, IOA Northeast NY
The Hilb Group LLC has acquired HR Knowledge in a transaction that became effective Nov. 1, 2017.
Located in Mansfield, Mass., HRK provides employers across the nation with integrated HR services including payroll, employee benefits, human resources management and benefits brokerage and administration.
Founded in 2001, HRK is one of the few brokers in the U.S. who has partnered with ADP to provide outsourced payroll and HR information management, utilizing ADP’s Workforce Now platform.
HRK’s managing directors, Ken Bettenhauser and Jeff Garr, and their team will continue to operate out of the firm’s existing location. HRK views this move as an opportunity for its employees to build on the success and growth HRK has had over the years, and as a part of THG, its clients can now tap into a wider range of products, services and expertise to address their needs.
In a separate deal, The Hilb Group also acquired the majority of the assets of IOA Northeast NY Inc., a division of IOA National Inc. The transaction became effective November 1, 2017.
Located in Florham Park, N.J., IOANE provides property and casualty insurance to businesses throughout the nation.
Led by Managing Director Jeff Miner, the IOANE team will continue operations in its current office location under THG’s name.
Miner and his team have a background in the large, commercial property and casualty space that will help to further expand THG’s New Jersey operations, said THG CEO Ricky Spiro in a company press release.
The Hilb Group is a Top 50 middle market insurance agency headquartered in Richmond, Va., and is a portfolio company of Boston-based private equity firm, Abry Partners.
Hub International, Summit Financial Insurance Agency
Global insurance brokerage Hub International Limited has acquired the assets of Summit Financial Corporation and Summit Financial Insurance Agency Inc. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Burlington, Mass., Summit provides plan design, consulting, actuarial, administration and investment-related services for both qualified and non-qualified employer-sponsored retirement plans, as well as similar services for employee benefit plans.
Headquartered in Chicago, Ill., Hub International Limited is a global insurance brokerage that provides property and casualty, life and health, employee benefits, investment and risk management products and services from offices located throughout North America.
Summit was founded by President Joe Bonasera and Vice President and CEO Brian Babcock in 1993. Hub’s acquisition of Summit strategically aligns both companies for the benefit of their clients, according to a press release issued by Hub.
Summit’s leadership team and staff, including Bonasera, will join Hub and continue to operate out of Summit’s existing offices. They will report to Charles Brophy, president, CEO and regional president of Hub International U.S. East.
This transaction creates a synergy that will benefit all of Hub’s clients, Brophy said in the release. He added that Hub continues to expand organically and through strategic mergers and acquisitions, and continued investments in operational efficiencies in distribution and client service will ensure its ability to deliver customized solutions to customers.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Weiss Insurance Agencies
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Wayne, Illinois-based Weiss Insurance Agencies Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 1905, Weiss Insurance Agencies provides a full range of employee benefits, property/casualty, financial and retirement products and services, and human resource consulting services to clients across Illinois and throughout the United States.
John Weiss, James Parrilli Jr., Arthur Pizzello and their associates will continue to operate from their current locations in Wayne, Illinois, and Carmel, Indiana, under the direction of John Neumaier, head of Gallagher’s Great Lakes employee benefits consulting and brokerage operations, and Patrick M. Gallagher, head of Gallagher’s Midwest retail property/casualty brokerage operations.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an international insurance brokerage and risk management services firm, is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois.