Business Moves

Lighthouse Underwriters, Cooley and Darling

Cooley and Darling Insurance Agency Inc., a new retail agency based in Haymarket, Va., has acquired the retail book of non-profit business from Lighthouse Underwriters LLC, a member company of U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc.

Cooley and Darling Insurance Agency Inc. was established by two former Lighthouse employees, Andy Cooley and Jeff Darling. Before forming the agency, Cooley managed the non-profit book and Darling managed the Take1 Program. They will assume all renewal rights for the entire retail non-profit book, according to Lighthouse Underwriters.

“While we have divested our interest in our retail non-profit book of business we will continue to offer the non-profit coverage on a wholesale basis,” said Art Seifert, CEO of Lighthouse Underwriters.

“We are still working in non-profit through our retail base, but will no longer offer our direct consumer book,” April Moser, spokesperson for U.S. Risk, told Insurance Journal. “That was the only book out of our entire organizational structure that we had a direct relationship with the consumer so it didn’t fit with our business model.”

With the departure of Darling, Lighthouse Underwriters appointed Scott Carroll as the new program manager for Take1. Carroll is branch manager of the U.S. Risk office in Irvine, Calif., and will assume the additional duties of Take1 program manager.

Lebanon Mutual

The board of directors of Lebanon Mutual Insurance Co. of Cleona, Pa., has adopted a plan to convert the firm from a Pennsylvania mutual insurance company to a stock insurance company and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of a newly formed holding company incorporated at the direction of Lebanon.

Lebanon has more than 100 agents. It writes only in Pennsylvania. Seventy-percent of its business is commercial lines, mostly small businesses.

The plan must be approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance and a vote of eligible policyholders of Lebanon.

Rollin Rissinger, president, said the company is looking to raise capital under what is a sponsored conversion plan.

Griffin MTS Partners LLC, a private equity investment vehicle, will act as sponsor of the conversion. Griffin has agreed to advance all costs associated with the conversion and to purchase up to 35 percent of the stock offered in the conversion.

Lebanon estimates that the offering will be made in the third quarter of 2008.

Employers Holdings, AmCOMP

Employers Holdings, Inc. of Reno, Nev., has agreed to acquire AmCOMP Inc. for approximately $230 million, including the assumption of $37 million in debt. The acquisition will expand Employers’ workers’ compensation insurance operations to a total of 26 states and add 900 AmCOMP agencies.

Employers has historically been focused in the Western states while AmCOMP has been in the Southeast and Midwest, thus there should be little to no overlap in markets, officials said.

Hanover Insurance, Verlan

Worcester, Mass.-based The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has agreed to acquire Verlan Holdings, Inc., a Silver Spring, Maryland-based holding company that provides insurance to manufacturers and distributors of chemical-related products.

Verlan’s primary business, Verlan Fire Insurance Co. offers property coverage to small and medium-sized companies that manufacture, store, transport and use chemicals such as paints and solvents. Verlan Fire is in 27 states.

A second Verlan Holdings subsidiary, Coatings Industry Services, is a program manager and wholesale agency that specializes in chemical and environmental exposures.

In September, Hanover acquired Professionals Direct, Inc., which writes professional liability for law firms.

Genstar Capital, Confie Seguros

The private equity firm Genstar Capital LLC has partnered with insurance industry executives and Westline Corp. to establish Confie Seguros to consolidate insurance brokerages that primarily focus on the Hispanic consumer.

In the next three years, Genstar and the Confie Seguros management team, led by insurance brokerage CEO John Addeo (who built Alliant Resources Group and USI Insurance Services), look to build a national distribution company with revenues exceeding $300 million, focusing on key markets including, but not limited to, California, Arizona, Florida, Texas, Georgia, and Nevada.

Topics USA Pennsylvania