Applied Underwriters founder Steve Menzies acquires insurance companies from Berkshire Hathaway
US insurer Applied Underwriters and its subsidiary North American Casualty Co., a group of diversified, national financial services companies, have been acquired by Applied's founder, Steve Menzies, joined by the Quasha Group led by Quadrant Management.
The transaction, valued at $920m, included the buyout of all other shareholders including the 81 percent of the 25-year-old company's stock held by Berkshire Hathaway.
Widely known for its workers' compensation programs, Applied serves US businesses of all sizes and their employees, working through more than 20,000 independent brokers. The company is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska and currently employs 800 people throughout the US.
Menzies stated: "I have been pleased to have had Berkshire as a partner these many years, but the growth in Berkshire's other primary insurance operations has created increasing channel conflicts for Applied. The transaction will now allow Applied to expand with no concerns for channel conflicts.
"The future for Applied is very bright, as construction on our new Omaha operations centre at Heartwood Preserve proceeds apace and as our financial results deliver consistent profits and excellent coverage for our clients and their employees."
Alan Quasha, CEO of Quadrant Management, which has acquired the services companies of Applied, observed that the complementary relationship between the insurance and services companies will be increasingly meaningful in the future as new products and programs are developed and introduced.
"The combination of strengths that our experience and our enterprises bring to Applied will foster robust organic growth, as has long been Steve Menzies' approach in making Applied a national leader, and our methods of continuously improving the companies with which we are involved,” he said. “We are both fully committed, motivated, and even inspired by the new Applied formula which can be realized.”
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