AutoOne Employees Await as Sale to Interboro Nears Completion

As AutoOne auto insurance company transitions from one owner to another, employees can expect to face a number of changes, including some likely downsizing.

AutoOne, with offices in Melville and Syracuse in New York State, is a high-risk personal auto insurance provider. In late August, its previous parent company OneBeacon Insurance Group, announced it is selling the unit to Interboro Holdings Inc. of New York. The deal is expected to be completed before the end of 2011.

AutoOne insurance company and its AutoOne Select division has 103 employees in Melville and 35 employees in Syracuse.

“At this point, there have been interviews conducted by the buyer and they will be making decisions on which employees they will be bringing on board,” according to OneBeacon. “We are selling the business to Interboro, and the expectation is that they will be hiring many of the employees.”

Interboro Holdings CEO David Nichols told Insurance Journal that his company is in the evaluation process.

“We are evaluating the business of AutoOne and AutoOne Select and attempting to determine the best way to utilize the companies. Part of that evaluation is the current state of the business and the number of employees that would be necessary to continue that business going forward,” he said.

“We haven’t completed that assessment at this point in time. We are not in a position to comment on specific numbers at this point.”

He said although some downsizing is “definitely under consideration, we hope to keep as many employees as possible”

“I think it is likely, given the current status of the company, that there would be some downsizing,” Nichols said. “It is certainly our intention to utilize these companies as platforms for future growth. However, we are currently making assessments as to the number of employees we would need to start the process, once the transaction has been completed.”