Zurich American Insurance Company (“ZAIC”), a subsidiary of Zurich Insurance Group (“Zurich”), has acquired 100 percent of Rural Community Insurance Agency, Inc. (“RCIA”) and its subsidiary Rural Community Insurance Company (“RCIC”). The two are collectively known as Rural Community Insurance Services (“RCIS”), a crop insurance provider.
Zurich entered into an agreement with RCIS owner Wells Fargo & Company in December 2015 to acquire the company.
“As we have worked over the last few months to complete this acquisition, farmers in much of the United States have been preparing for the spring planting season,” said Mike Foley, Zurich's chief executive officer for North America commercial operations and regional chairman of North America operations. “During this time, we've had an opportunity to meet the people that make up RCIS and are proud to welcome them to the Zurich team. They bring a national distribution footprint with highly specialized agents and a strong service reputation, insuring one in six farmers in the U.S. We greatly respect their expertise and look forward to having them as colleagues.”
RCIS will now operate as a stand-alone unit within Zurich North America commercial's programs and direct markets business unit, Zurich said.
“On behalf of Wells Fargo, we want to recognize the excellent work that went into ensuring the completion of this important transaction,” said Laura Schupbach, the head of Wells Fargo Insurance. “We thank Zurich for their partnership and look forward to continuing to work together as they remain an important carrier for our brokerage business.”
Zurich paid Wells Fargo approximately $700 million for RCIS.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].