Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance to Buy Reinsurance Broker Transverse for $400 Million

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Japan’s MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, will spend about $400 million to buy U.S. reinsurance broker Transverse, the Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday.

The Japanese property insurer aims to gain know-how of the reinsurance broker business, which could help with the expansion of an insurance market specialized in fields such as cybercrime, the Nikkei said.

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance may pay up to an additional $150 million, depending on the U.S. company’s earnings after the deal, the Nikkei said, adding that an announcement was expected by the end of the month.

MS&AD said in a statement it was considering various business investment opportunities, including those reported in the media, but nothing had been decided.

It said it would announce anything that needed to be disclosed promptly when it was decided.

Transverse, established in 2018 and based in New Jersey, acts as a broker for reinsurance across the United States, receiving about 5% of insurance premiums as commission by connecting insurers and reinsurance companies, according to the Nikkei.

In the United States, growing risk of natural disasters, terrorism and cybercrime have led to an increase of sales of policies provided by insurers that specialize in certain fields such as transport and medicine. But insurance against such risks as cyberattacks has not become widespread in Japan, the Nikkei said.