Wis. General Casualty, Unigard Acquired by Australia-based QBE

Sun Prairie,Wis.-based insurer General Casualty, its U.S. holding company and sister company Unigard Insurance Group in Bellevue, Wash., are being acquired by Australia-based QBE Insurance Group in an agreement with current parent companies Winterthur Insurance Group in Switzerland and Paris-based AXA Group. The purchase price for the companies is $1.16 billion.

General Casualty, Unigard and the U.S. holding company have been under strategic review since summer, when AXA agreed to buy the Winterthur Insurance Group from banking giant Credit Suisse. The U.S. operations were evaluated for a potential sale due to AXA’s disinterest in a U.S. property/casualty presence. Sun Prairie-based management have been heavily involved in the search for a suitable buyer, Winterthur’s written statement said.

The acquisition completes QBE’s strategy of building four major business streams in the Americas: specialist insurance programs, property and casualty insurance in regional markets, reinsurance and a Latin American presence.

The transaction is pending regulatory approval and expected to close by mid-year. Net tangible assets at the date of acquisition are expected to be $0.78 billion.

The U.S. operations will become part of QBE the Americas division, which currently anticipates no changes in General Casualty and Unigard’s businesses.

Source: Winterthur U.S. Holdings, Inc