Business Moves – Southeast

BancorpSouth Insurance, Securance

BancorpSouth Insurance Services Inc., headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi, has agreed to acquire the assets of The Securance Group, Inc., an independent property/casualty and life/health insurance agency headquartered in Brewton, Alabama. Financial terms of the pending transaction were not disclosed. BancorpSouth Chairman and CEO Aubrey Patterson said this acquisitions reflects the firm’s “long-term strategy to expand its insurance brokerage business.” He said the growth of its insurance business has been a key contributor to the expansion of fee-based revenues. Insurance commission revenue accounted for nearly one-third of noninterest revenue for 2011, which, in turn, increased to a record 38.4 percent of total revenue for the year. In addition to the agency’s Brewton, Alabama headquarters office, Securance Group also operates offices in Montgomery and in Troy.

BancorpSouth Insurance currently serves the Birmingham and Mobile markets with 26 offices.

S.A.C. Re

S.A.C. Re, Ltd. has commenced operations as a Bermuda-based reinsurer with $500 million of contributed capital, raised in a private placement of the equity securities of its parent, S.A.C. Re Holdings, Ltd.

Founding investors include Steven A. Cohen and Capital Z Partners III, L.P. Cohen is the CEO and chairman of S.A.C. Capital Advisors, L.P. Cap Z is a major investor in the Bermuda reinsurance market, having been a founding investor in Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. and Lancashire Holdings Limited.

The reinsurer is led by CEO Simon Burton.

Endurance Specialty’s former CEO Kenneth J. LeStrange will serve as chairman of the board of directors.

Confie Seguros, A Auto Insurance World

Confie Seguros, a national provider of personal lines insurance focused on Hispanic consumers, has added three agencies: Bradley Insurance Agency, Inc., Las Vegas, Nev.; A Auto Insurance World of West Palm Beach, Fla. and; Westside Auto, Ontario, Canada.

In addition, the company named Chad Maxwell as senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions, to help it further its national acquisition strategy. Prior to joining Confie Seguros, Maxwell served as a partner with Clear Lake Consulting.