Business Moves

K2 Insurance, Aegis Security

San Diego, Calif.-based K2 Insurance Services acquired Aegis Security Inc. in Harrisburg, Penn. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Aegis Security specializes in insurance for manufactured homes, motorcycles, travel trailers, select-value dwellings and other specialty insurance products.

With the acquisition, K2 comprises a specialty insurance franchise that is expected to generate approximately $165 million of gross written premiums in 2013.

K2 Insurance Services was formed in 2011 in partnership with investment firm Endeavour Capital to acquire managing general agencies and specialty underwriters to create a franchise in the insurance program market.

Eastern Insurance Holdings

Eastern Insurance Holdings Inc. has opened a Gulf South regional office in support of subsidiary Eastern Alliance Insurance Group (EAIG), a domestic casualty insurance group specializing in workers’ compensation insurance.

EAIG’s Gulf South regional office will provide workers’ comp insurance products and services to policyholders in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana. The office is located in Madison, Miss.

The office is fully staffed with underwriting, marketing, claims and risk management professionals. Since July 2012, Steven Weeks has served as regional business executive for the Gulf South territory.

Founded in 1997, EAIG is a specialty underwriter of workers’ compensation products and services for businesses and organizations in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest and Gulf South regions of the United States. EAIG is a member of the publicly-held Eastern Insurance Holdings Inc. family of companies, with offices in Lancaster and Wexford, Pa.; Charlotte, N.C.; Carmel, Ind.; Franklin, Tenn.; Richmond, Va.; and Madison, Miss.

EIHI operates through its subsidiaries a domestic casualty insurance group specializing in workers’ compensation products and services and a segregated portfolio cell reinsurance business.

McGowan, Governmental Underwriters

The McGowan Cos., based in Fairview Park, Ohio, has purchased the assets of Governmental Underwriters of America Inc. (GUA). Effective immediately, GUA will begin operating under the newly formed McGowan Governmental Underwriters (MGU) brand.

Founded in 2006, GUA provides public entity insurance to municipalities and school districts.

The formation of the McGowan Governmental Underwriters brand consolidates all of McGowan’s public entity operations into one facility. This operation will be headed by Terrence B. Phelan, as its president. David Gosiewski has been named senior vice president of the newly-formed company.

All GUA brokers will receive automatic appointments with McGowan and its full range of products and capabilities.

MGU’s umbrella products are available in all 50 states, while MGU’s package products initially will be available in Ohio and Pennsylvania, with more states coming online soon.

The Hilb Group, EPH

The Hilb Group announced the acquisition of Engle, Paxson & Hawthorne Insurance Services (EPH) of Leesburg, Va. The transaction was effective April 1.

Founded more than a century ago, EPH serves residents and middle-market business owners in northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland. The firm was one of six agencies in the country to receive the “Top Performing Agencies” award from the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America in 2010.

The Hilb Group said this deal comes on the heels of its recent acquisition of Pennoyer Group in nearby Crofton, Md. The Hilb Group CEO Robert J Hilb said his company is continuing to build a strong agency presence in the D.C. metro area.

The Hilb Group was founded in 2009 by Robert H. Hilb, the former founder, CEO and chairman of Hilb, Rogal and Hobbs, and Robert J. Hilb, a former corporate vice president of Hilb, Rogal and Hobbs. The Hilb Group seeks to grow through targeted acquisitions in the middle market insurance brokerage space. The company is headquartered in Richmond, Va., with offices in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Maryland and New York.

Atlas General, South Bay Underwriters

Atlas General Insurance Services in San Diego, Calif. has acquired South Bay Underwriters from Bliss & Glennon, a Redondo Beach-based national managing general agency and surplus lines broker.

The firms said that upon closing of the transaction on May 1, they will form a new unit of Atlas under the name Atlas Specialty Property Division. This new division will be headed by industry veteran John Coleman, who will be based in Atlas’ newly-opened Manhattan Beach office.

The Specialty Property Division will focus on difference in conditions insurance, which provides coverage designed to close specific gaps in standard insurance policies for commercial risks. The division will concentrate its efforts on commercial property risks largely comprised of real estate schedules, municipalities, and retail with catastrophic exposed perils.