AmTrust acquires middle-market management liability business from DUAL North America; Berkshire Hathaway buys Alleghany: Insurtech news

October 25, 2022 6:40 AM

The Manhattan skyline along the East River in New York, US, on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022. New York, US, on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022. New York's apartment market has become super competitive as rent prices set records and vacancies stay low. Photographer: Ismail Ferdous/Bloomberg — The Manhattan skyline along the East River in New York on Aug. 17, 2022.

AmTrust Financial Services acquired DUAL North America's middle-market management liability business. The transaction includes DUAL's underwriting team, renewal rights and seven employees who will join the executive team at AmTrust. "This acquisition represents an excellent, complementary addition to an already strong business at AmTrust," said Jim Seymour, Senior Vice President, AmTrust EXEC, in a statement. "We're confident that in addition to being successful with the renewals, we will be able to grow the client base across new classes. The addition of this middle market team and portfolio is a definite enhancement to AmTrust's presence in the private management liability space."

Berkshire Hathaway completed the acquisition of the Alleghany Corporation, which owns insurance subsidiaries including Transatlantic Holdings, RSUI Group, and CapSpecialty. Stockholders of Alleghany are entitled to $848.02 per share, a total equity value of $11.6 billion.

USAA and Humana launch a new Medicare advantage plan for veterans. The co-branded RX plan is Humana USAA Honor and is available to anyone eligible for Medicare. The plan will be available next year in Pennsylvania, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Arizona, California and Hawaii. "Choosing the right health coverage is an important element of financial security," said Mary Forey, assistant vice president and senior experience owner for health insurance at USAA, in a statement. "With this plan veterans continue to have access to their VA care—which they rightfully deserve and earned—but for $0 premium they can have access to additional services, more convenient prescription drug refills, backup coverage or even a second opinion. We chose Humana because of their dedication to the military community and our long-time partnership."

Blackstone partners with Resolution Life. The two companies plan to raise $3 billion in new equity capital, which includes a $500 million investment from Blackstone. Gilles Dellaert, Global Head of Blackstone Insurance Solutions, said in a statement: "We believe that Blackstone's world-class private credit and asset origination platform and Resolution Life's leading position in the closed book consolidation market will be a powerful combination. We look forward to working closely with the Resolution Life team in the years ahead to help drive their growth and deliver greater financial security for policyholders."

SelectQuote, Symetra and Munich Re Life U.S. partner to launch an instant life insurance product. The point-of-sale product is available to consumers 18-60 years old. Policyholders will be able to acquire $2 million in coverage without a medical exam through SwiftTerm Select, sold through SelectQuote. "We are excited to partner with SelectQuote and Munich Re Life US on this custom offering. Empowering customers is at the core of why we built SwiftTerm Select, and SelectQuote's combination of the digital and agent experience aligns directly with that mission. Together, with Munich Re Life US, we created an opportunity to expand our reach by making it even easier for customers to obtain term life insurance coverage," said Mindi Work, Senior Vice President, Chief of Strategy at Symetra, in a statement.

BlueVine has announced an expansion of small business insurance offerings that includes Active Cyber Insurance from Coalition. "After the initial success of our small business insurance partnership with NEXT last year, we took a closer look at the gaps our customers might still have with their insurance policies and worked to close them," said Eyal Lifshitz, CEO and co-founder of Bluevine, in a press release. "By partnering with Coalition and NEXT, Bluevine is serving the broader small business community by providing in-dashboard access to trusted insurance companies that support the small business community on their journey to grow and scale."