United Insurance Holdings Corp. said it has initiated the takeout of more than 37,000 personal and commercial residential policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp. in Florida.

The transition for personal residential policies is set to take place on Nov. 5, 2014. Commercial residential policies will switch over on Nov. 18, 2014, United Insurance Holdings said. This will be through United Property & Casualty Insurance Company, a wholly owned subsidiary (United Insurance Holdings Corp. is a property/casualty insurance holding company). In total, the deal involves in-force premiums of about $470 million, though the final amount could be reduced by opt-outs or policyholder cancellations.

Beyond that, United Insurance Holdings has been given approval for another commercial residential takeout on Dec. 9, 2014, but hasn’t yet gotten the final policy allocations from Citizens.

Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is Florida’s main residual market property insurance company, according to the deal announcement.

John Forney, President of United Property & Casualty Insurance Company, acknowledged that the Citizens takeouts aren’t a larger part of his company’s book of business, but said they will matter greatly in the long term.

“While Citizens takeouts represent a small part of our book of business, we are confident that the rigorous selection process we have adopted will allow them to diversify and strengthen our overall portfolio, which continues to be founded on our partnerships with a large and loyal independent agent distribution network,” Forney said in a statement.

Separately, United Property & Casualty Insurance Company now has approval to do business in Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi and Virginia. The company already operates in Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Texas, and said it is pursuing further expansion into other states.

Source: United Insurance Holdings Corp.