Liberty Mutual to Acquire AmTrust’s Surety, Credit Reinsurance Business

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Liberty Mutual Insurance said it has agreed to acquire the global surety and credit reinsurance operations of property/casualty insurer AmTrust Financial Services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Upon closing, Liberty Mutual will acquire four AmTrust businesses: AmTrust Surety, previously managed by Insco Dico, which provides contract, commercial, and subdivision bonds primarily in the western U.S.; AmTrust Insurance Spain which offers surety bonds in Spain and Latin America; Nationale Borg which provides surety, worker disability, and home purchase bonds in the Netherlands and Belgium; and Nationale Borg Reinsurance, a global provider of surety, trade credit and political risk reinsurance.

AmTrust said the sale is part of its plan to focus on local markets, while Liberty Mutual said it is looking to grow its business in the U.S. and globally.

“The transaction will further enhance our strong global surety and reinsurance expertise, market leadership, and geographic footprint,” stated Dennis Langwell, president, Global Risk Solutions, Liberty Mutual, which offers primary, excess, specialty, and reinsurance products in the U.S. and globally. “Once the transaction closes, we’ll integrate the acquired operations into our current structure.”

Liberty Mutual said the agreement reinforces its global surety market position. According to Tim Mikolajewski, president, Global Surety, “the added scale and key talent aligns well with our model and goals in the U.S., and will provide a platform for broader global development through AmTrust Insurance Spain, Nationale Borg, and Nationale Borg Reinsurance.”

The AmTrust Surety portion of the acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019, while the AmTrust Insurance Spain, Nationale Borg, and NBRe portion is expected to close in the second half of 2019, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Last year AmTrust completed the process of becoming a private company in a deal that valued it at $2.95 billion. An entity managed by Stone Point Capital along with Barry D. Zyskind, chairman and CEO of AmTrust, and shareholders George Karfunkel and Leah Karfunkel, acquired the shares the families of Karfunkel-Zyskind did not already own.

AmTrust CEO Zyskind said the Liberty Mutual deal is an important step in its AmTrust Forward strategic plan announced in January to become a leading specialty commercial property/casualty insurer by “focusing on local markets and niche products where we can add significant value.”

AmTrust offers small commercial property/casualty insurance including workers’ compensation, specialty risk and extended warranty in the U.S. and internationally.

Source: Liberty Mutual