GuideOne Insurance Sells Tulsa Operations to Home State

GuideOne Insurance announce that the company signed a definitive agreement, effective Aug. 1, 2001, to sell GuideOne Casualty Insurance Company, the organization’s Tulsa, Okla., operation, to the Home State Insurance Group, of Waco and Dallas, Texas.

“This agreement is beneficial to GuideOne, our policyholders and agents,” stated Jan Beckstrom, GuideOne’s chief operating officer. “It will allow for continued insurance coverage and an ongoing market presence to serve the personal auto customers insured with GuideOne Casualty in the states of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Georgia.”

“The GuideOne Casualty auto program is an excellent fit with Home State’s core business and is a strategic fit with our long range vision of building a multi-state personal auto program,” stated John M. Davis, president of Home State. “Home State anticipates continuity in leadership roles in Tulsa, and that the Tulsa operating responsibilities and team members will remain largely unchanged.”

This agreement follows GuideOne’s strategic decision last summer to refocus on core and traditional business lines, such as insuring churches and related church businesses (schools and senior living communities), standard auto, homeowners, and life insurance products. The deal is consistent with GuideOne’s exit strategy for nonstandard auto and specialty lines.

The sale is subject to normal regulatory approvals, and Home State is expected to take over operations of GuideOne Casualty’s Tulsa operations once the deal is finalized within the next two months.

Home State is the trade name and holding company for a Texas-based property and casualty insurance group with offices in Waco and Dallas, Texas, including Home State County Mutual Insurance Company, Home State Agency Inc. and Home State General Agency Inc. Home State County Mutual Insurance Company operates as a nonstandard insurer with a majority of its business currently generated by unaffiliated managing general agents and with a small percentage of its business coming from its direct program. In 2000, Home State had direct written premiums of $240 million.

Founded in 1947 and headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, GuideOne Insurance is the leading insurer of churches in the United States. GuideOne also insures schools and colleges, as well as not-for-profit senior living communities. GuideOne’s consumer product lines include standard auto, homeowners and life insurance. The company employs more than 1,000 individuals across the country and is licensed to do business in all 50 states. GuideOne markets its products and services through 2,300 independent and career agents.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Texas Auto Church Casualty