AmTrust Financial Services plans to pay $90 million in cash for a regional U.S. workers compensation insurer, its last acquisition in a year of several M&A transactions.
The New York City-based multinational insurance holding company is acquiring AmeriHealth Casualty Insurance Company from Independence Health Group, Inc. AmTrust plans to fund the deal with existing working capital.
What AmTrust gets in the deal: AmeriHealth produced approximately $116 million in gross written premium in 2015. The insurer provides fully insured workers compensation insurance to small-to-medium-sized businesses and municipalities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Assuming regulatory approval comes through, the transaction should close in the 2016 fourth quarter.
Barry Zyskind, AmTrust’s chairman, president and CEO, said that AmeriHealth’s business will help make it one of the biggest workers compensation carriers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
“We look forward to welcoming AmeriHealth Casualty to the AmTrust group of commercial property and casualty companies,” Zyskind said in prepared remarks. “AmeriHealth Casualty will bring a strong leadership team and solid book of business.”
Independence Health Group isn’t selling everything. It plans to keep CompServices, its third party administrator for workers compensation business. It will provide those services to its self-insured customers as well as AmTrust, as per terms of the deal they forged.
In May, AmTrust completed its purchase of Genworth Financial Mortgage Insurance Ltd. from parent Genworth Financial Inc. for about $55 million. That division provides mortgage insurance in the U.K., Finland, Italy and Germany, and is well known in the European mortgage insurance market.
AmTrust is growing through acquisition.. It has also snatched up Texas-based P/C insurer Republic Cos. For $233 million. There was also a deal to grab National Borg, a Dutch reinsurer of surety and trade credit insurance, for over $167.9 billion. As well, AmTrust signed a deal in April to buy up ANV Holdings B.V., a specialty insurance company, along with its Lloyd’s affiliates, for $218.7 million.
Source: AmTrust Financial Services
