OneBeacon Selling Agri Renewal Rights to QBE-U.S.

Boston-based OneBeacon Insurance Group has signed a binding agreement to transfer its Agri book renewal rights and certain OneBeacon Agri assets to QBE the Americas, a wholly owned division of Australia’s QBE Insurance Group, Ltd.

“OneBeacon Agri is a division of the OneBeacon Insurance Group that provides commercial farm and ranch and commercial agri products primarily in Midwestern and Western states,” said the announcement. “Its products are distributed through a select network of independent agents specializing in agribusiness. 2005 gross written premiums totaled approximately $85.7 million.

“OneBeacon expects the sale will close in the third quarter of this year for approximately $32 million and that it will result in a pretax gain of approximately $30 million.”

The bulletin also noted that the agreement anticipates that “OneBeacon Agri employees will become QBE employees subsequent to the sale. OneBeacon will also continue to provide certain services to the Agri business through transition services arrangements.”

OneBeacon CEO Mike Miller commented: “This is our second transaction with QBE, which acquired National Farmers Union Insurance from us last fall, and nicely complements their growing focus on the agricultural segment. We are all proud of Jim Henry and the Agri team who turned this business into a consistently strong performer. We are confident that this alignment with an agri-focused parent will provide the dedicated support and resources for continued strong results.”