Breckenridge Buys St. Louis Wholesale Broker IPSICO

Ohio-based wholesale insurance broker and program administrator Breckenridge Insurance Services has acquired the assets of International Placement Services, LC (IPSICO), a wholesale insurance brokerage firm in St. Louis. Terms were not disclosed.

The deal is the fourth for Breckenridge, which has been in operation for only a year and has plans for more.

IPSICO was founded in 1981 by Richard J. Eichhorn after he left the national insurance brokerage firm Arthur J. Gallagher where he was area president. IPSICO offers primary and excess casualty coverage, executive liability and workers compensation products. It also offers inland marine coverage, commercial auto and other related casualty products. Its property coverage includes earthquake, wind and flood coverage. IPSICO’s industry specialties include a construction unit and a large public entity portfolio.

IPSICO also offers alternative risk services that will become a part of Breckenridge Enterprise Alternative Risk Services. IPSICO also owns a premium financing company. IPSICO operations will continue to be based in St. Louis.

Breckenridge Insurance Services, LLC is the insurance brokerage operations of Breckenridge IS, a specialty insurance underwriting manager, program administrator, managing general agent, wholesale broker and insurance services company with 14 offices across the country. New York-based Arsenal Capital Partners is the primary investor in Breckenridge IS, Inc.

Tracey Carragher, CEO of Breckenridge IS, said the acquisition of IPSICO is a “major milestone” coming at the anniversary of the company’s first year of operations. She said that with IPSICO now a part of the Breckenridge organization, her firm “will accelerate the growth of our wholesale brokerage operations throughout the Midwest and the United States.”

She said Breckenridge plans to complete acquisitions of additional specialty insurance operations in strategic markets.

In June, Breckenridge IS completed its acquisition of the Overby-Seawell Co., a specialist in lender-placed insurance and financial risk management. Overby-Seawell is based in Kennesaw, Georgia and will offer IPSICO products and services to its market of banks, credit unions, consumer finance and other financial services institutions.

Last year, Breckenridge made a strategic investment in the Target Markets Program Administrators Association in Wilmington, Del. and also acquired Western Pinnacle Insurance Services in Fresno, Calif.