National General Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:NGHC) announced that it has agreed to acquire National Farmers Union Property and Casualty Company from QBE North America, an integrated specialist insurer. National Farmers Union Insurance is a Wisconsin domiciled P&C insurance company that predominantly writes personal and farm auto and farm and homeowners’ insurance in the Midwestern United states.
National Farmers Union Insurance wrote $175 million in gross written premium (GWP) in 2017, with the majority of premium written in personal/farm auto (58 percent of 2017 GWP) and farm/homeowners (33 percent of 2017 GWP) lines. The company is licensed in 49 states with a heavy concentration of business in the Midwest: North Dakota, Colorado, Montana, Minnesota, Kansas, Wyoming, Nebraska and Utah.
The estimated purchase price for the transaction is $43 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
National General Chief Executive Officer Barry Karfunkel said “We are excited to continue to expand our personal lines portfolio through the acquisition of National Farmers Union Insurance. This acquisition fits well with our existing business mix, expanding our personal lines footprint in the Midwest and opening up a new distribution network through an exclusive arrangement with the National Farmers Union. We expect to realize benefits from integrating the company onto our shared services platform and the geographic diversification the acquisition brings, and we expect the acquisition to be immediately accretive to earnings. We look forward to welcoming the National Farmers Union Insurance team to National General.”