HCC acquires crop insurer

Specialty insurer HCC Insurance has acquired crop insurer Producers Ag Insurance Group from CUNA Mutual Group for $110 million.

In 2013, ProAg had gross earned premiums of $633.5 million. The company writes multi-peril crop, crop hail, named peril and livestock insurance. In 2013, ProAg was the sixth largest writer of multi-peril crop insurance and crop hail insurance, with a 5 percent market share.

The company is headquartered in Amarillo, Texas with seven offices across the US.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015 with ProAg's current management team continuing to operate the business.

"Crop insurance is a non-correlated line of business we strategically targeted to add to HCC's diversified portfolio of specialty insurance businesses. We believe ProAg provides a solid platform to incrementally grow our profitability. We are pleased to welcome the ProAg management team and employees to HCC," said Christopher Williams, HCC's chief executive officer.

Michael Connealy, ProAg's president and chief executive officer, added: "ProAg is excited about the opportunity to continue building our crop insurance franchise under HCC's ownership. With HCC's guidance and support, we expect ProAg's strong agricultural risk management program to thrive and grow.”