Oswego Valley Insurance Acquires Banach Insurance in New York
Oswego Valley Insurance Agencies LLC (OVIA), an independent agency based in Oswego, New York, with five additional offices in the Central New York region, announced that it has acquired Banach Insurance Agency in Pulaski, New York, effective Jan. 1, 2016. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 1999, Banach Insurance Agency is an independent agency offering personal and business property/casualty insurance. Cindy Banach, owner of the Banach Insurance Agency, plans to retire following the transaction. OVIA said it will move Banach Insurance Agency’s customer accounts to its office in the town of Mexico, New York. Kathie Hoffman, a Banach Insurance employee who has been with the agency for over 10 years, will join the OVIA staff.
OVIA was founded in 1997 upon the merger of Dowd & Harrington Inc. and Streeter & VanSanford, two longstanding local agencies that provided insurance service to the Central New York region since the late 1800s. OVIA has 24 employees and serves more than 10,000 personal and commercial clients in New York State.
OVIA’s vice president and co-owner James Poindexter, Jr. said this latest acquisition is part of his firm’s ongoing growth model that includes helping form succession plans for retiring agency owners and acquiring their businesses.
“We have other plans besides acquisitions for growth that are in effect as we speak but helping form succession plans for other agents reaching the retirement age has been something we have found success with in the past,” Poindexter said. OVIA earlier this year acquired the Eugene Gamble Agency in Watertown, New York. The agency also previously acquired The Bartlett Agency in Oswego, New York, in 2014; Hollister Agency in Mexico, New York, in 2009; and Whorall Insurance in Phoenix, New York, in 2003.
“We have other acquisitions we are presently working on now that are expected to take effect over the next few years to strengthen our presence in Northern and Central New York while our long term goal is to saturate strategic areas throughout New York State,” Poindexter added.