Lighthouse to Acquire Prepared Insurance of Florida

Lighthouse Property Insurance Corp. plans to acquire its sister carrier, Prepared Insurance Company (Prepared), from Prepared Holdings Group.

Lighthouse is a Louisiana-domiciled property and casualty insurance carrier authorized to write policies in Louisiana, Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina. Prepared is a Florida-domiciled property and casualty insurance carrier authorized to write in Florida and Louisiana. The acquisition and merger are subject to regulatory review and approval.

“In light of the current legal and regulatory challenges facing the Florida homeowners insurance market, we believe that our Prepared policyholders, my Prepared Holdings co-investors, and our insurance enterprise as a whole will be best served by the financial strength of a unified carrier,” said Patrick White, controlling shareholder in Lighthouse. White initially acquired a majority interest in Prepared in 2017 and serves as CEO of each carrier.

Under the plan of operations, Lighthouse will assume the Prepared portfolio and write directly in the state of Florida through Prepared Managers LLC, a licensed Florida managing general agent. Lighthouse will also assume all assets and liabilities of Prepared. The resultant carrier, including wholly owned subsidiary Lighthouse Excalibur Insurance Company (Lighthouse Excalibur), which Lighthouse acquired in May of 2019, will have a statutory surplus in excess of $45 million and will cover approximately 175,000 homes across the Southeast. Gross written premium for the combined enterprise will be in excess of $275 million.

Lighthouse began writing homeowners policies in Louisiana in 2008. It has since expanded its geographic footprint, revenue and capital base over the past 12 years, increasing statutory surplus each year, the company said in a statement.

Prepared Insurance, based in Tampa, was licensed to write business in Florida in 2009 and offered homeowners insurance products including flood, condo, renters and dwelling fire policies. It had 32,018 policies in force and $63.5 million in total premium as of the third quarter 2019, according to market share data from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.