Business Moves

Odyssey Investment, York Insurance Services

Odyssey Investment Partners LLC completed its acquisition of York Insurance Services Group Inc. in partnership with York Chairman and CEO Thomas C. MacArthur, other members of York’s senior management and Cincinnatus Partners LLC, a Cincinnati-based advisory firm.

York’s senior management team, headed by MacArthur, will continue to lead the business, and John Ward, founder of Cincinnatus Partners, will become vice chairman.

York, headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., is an outsourcer of specialty claims management to niche market segments of the property and casualty industry.

St. Paul’s Securian Group, CNL Financial

The Securian Financial Group of St. Paul, Minn., purchased CNL Financial Corp. CNL is a Macon, Ga.-based company that provides loan protection products.

Securian plans to grow the CNL operation, turning it into a “center of excellence” for the manufacture and distribution of property casualty loan protection products.

Assurant, Safeco Financial Institution Solutions

Assurant Inc., a provider of specialty insurance and insurance-related products and services, acquired the outstanding capital stock of Safeco Financial Institution Solutions Inc. based in Seattle, a California corporation and indirect subsidiary of Safeco Corp.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Assurant is financing the transaction through existing cash resources and expects the transaction will not be material to its financial position or results of operations.

Safeco FIS is the fourth largest provider of creditor-placed homeowners insurance and direct tracking services for mortgage lenders and servicers nationwide. Safeco FIS will become part of Assurant’s specialty property business segment.

In addition to Safeco FIS’s approximate $140 million in annual premiums and fees, the acquisition will add distribution and administrative capabilities to Assurant’s specialty property business. In connection with the closing of the transaction, Assurant also entered into a reinsurance agreement with certain Safeco insurance companies.

Liberty Mutual

Liberty Mutual Insurance Group has decided to fight allegations of anti-competitive practices that have been brought against it by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut.

The Boston-based insurer is insisting that charges regarding improper commissions and bid-rigging are untrue and overblown, and says it is willing to go to court to defend itself and its practices, rather than settle.

After two years of negotiations, Liberty Mutual said it reached a resolution and believes the states’ settlement demands have been excessive.

The insurer took its stand following the filing of complaints by the offices of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal involving bid-rigging and commission payments.

The complaints describe alleged cooperation of Liberty Mutual employees in a bid-rigging scheme in which the employees provided large insurance broker Marsh with what it called “B” quotes for excess casualty accounts. The quotes allegedly were intentionally less favorable than other insurers’ quotes.

CSR

CSR Ltd., an Australian building products manufacturer, has reached a settlement of asbestos litigation with a group of 48 Australian, United Kingdom and European insurers. Under the settlement terms, each of the settling insurers is obliged to pay its share of a settlement totaling approximately A$103.3 million on or before June 10, 2006.

The insurers were among a number of insurers sued by CSR in New Jersey beginning in 1995. CSR has been seeking indemnity for U.S. asbestos claims with other damages and relief under policies issued to CSR from approximately 1978 to 1989.

Continuing action against those insurers — including ACE Insurance Ltd. and some of its affiliates, which together were the primary and excess insurers of CSR and the lead insurer on many of the policies at issue in the proceedings — have not been settled.

CSR CEO and Managing Director Alec Brennan noted that this is one of the several asbestos settlements for the company. “Since commencing this litigation in 1995, we have achieved settlements with 55 insurers and, while litigation is inherently uncertain, we are confident of our litigation position against the ACE defendants,” he said.

The settlement net of litigation costs is approximately $93 million and will be recorded in CSR’s results for the year ending March 31, 2006.

Beecher Carlson, Cramer & Giles Insurance

Atlanta-based Beecher Carlson, an insurance brokerage and risk management consulting firm, acquired Eugene, Ore.-based Cramer & Giles Insurance Inc. and merged it with its Portland operation, JBL&K Risk Services. The transaction accelerates Beecher Carlson’s growth plan to expand its presence significantly in the Pacific Northwest region.

The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. However, the consideration for the transaction consisted of a combination of cash and Beecher Carlson stock. Beecher Carlson operates as JBL&K Risk Services in the Pacific Northwest, following its merger with the company in May 2005. The agency will continue to conduct business as Cramer & Giles.

Cramer & Giles is an independent agency focused on providing commercial property and casualty insurance brokerage services from Eugene and Medford, Ore.

Cramer & Giles employs 24 individuals across its two offices. The Eugene office will remain in operation, and the Medford office will be combined with JBL&K’s Medford facility. Dan Romain, president of JBL&K, will assume responsibilities for integration and ongoing operations of Cramer & Giles.

“Our decision to partner with Cramer & Giles is consistent with our vision to aggressively expand our presence in the Pacific Northwest region”, said Tom Golub, president and CEO at Beecher Carlson.

Sage Global Solutions Inc., RJC Insurance Services

Sage Global Solutions Inc., Irvine, Calif., signed a letter of intent to acquire RJC Insurance Services, a full-service commercial lines insurance agency. Sage Global provides online financial and insurance services and products for small businesses and individual retail customers. The company said the acquisition is a significant step toward its goal of becoming a complete financial services. The acquisition was expected to close by the end of April and is subject to internal due diligence reviews, ratification by the board of directors and certain regulatory approvals.