Around the P&C insurance industry: July 11, 2018
News from Holmes Murphy, Liberty Specialty Markets, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. and more.
Holmes Murphy has joined forces with privately-owned and Minneapolis-based Cobb Strecker Dunphy & Zimmermann Incorporated. The deal, which closed July 1, makes Holmes Murphy one of the largest employee-owned brokerages in the nation.
Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM) has rebranded its reinsurance division as Liberty Mutual Re and will immediately begin writing marine business in the U.S. for the first time. The rebrand is effective from July and encompasses all aspects of LSM’s reinsurance division.
Affinion Group LLC, a subsidiary of Affinion Group Holdings Inc., has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to sell its insurance division, Affinion Insurance Solutions, to an affiliate of Mill Point Capital. The sale is expected to close sometime in the third quarter of this year, subject to regulatory approvals and satisfaction of certain other conditions.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced the acquisition of Milne Alexander, with offices in Sydney, New South Wales and Port Lincoln, South Australia. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Additionally, the company announced the acquisition of 100% of the equity interest of Chicago-based Reassurance Holdings Inc., including its subsidiaries Coverdell & Co. Inc. and Carefree Marketing Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
HUB International Limited, after announcing plans to develop a complete employee benefits solution across Canada, has acquired the following companies:
- Optimum Group Benefits & Insurance Services Ltd., based in Coquitlam, British Columbia
- Wm. W. Hammond Insurance Agency Incorporated, based in Leamington, Ontario
ACORD, the global standards-setting body for the insurance industry, announced the release of the ACORD Cyber Data Breach Standard. This represents the insurance industry’s first standard for a cyber data breach. The standard was developed in collaboration with Aon and Beazley.
Spencer has awarded scholarships to 12 industry professionals who are seeking master’s degrees part-time. Each recipient was granted up to $10,000; a total of $101,100 was awarded. Combined with its full-time scholarships, the foundation awarded 82 scholarships this year totaling $501,000.
Willis Towers Watson has launched CyCon, a tailored cyber insurance solution for the construction industry. CyCon coverage is available in the U.S. and was developed in close cooperation with specialty cyber insurance leader NAS Insurance Services.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced that its subsidiary, Gallagher Bassett Services Inc., has acquired Pennington, New Jersey-based WCD Group LLC. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Insurity Inc. has announced that Glatfelter Insurance Group has completed its implementation of SIMS Claims and is now running the core system in each of the states where the company provides insurance. Insurity’s SIMS Claims provides Glatfelter the ability to fully customize user interfaces without external support.