Everest Re Group has completed its earlier-announced acquisition of Topeka, Kan.-based managing general agency Heartland Crop Insurance for $55 million plus the agreed upon value of the net assets of Heartland.
The deal also includes an additional contingency of up to $13.5 million based on future performance, Hamilton, Bermuda-based Everest Re said.
Heartland is a specialty underwriter of crop insurance, offering multiperil crop and crop-hail insurance products through its distribution network.
Joseph V. Taranto, Everest Re's chairman and chief executive officer, said, "Heartland provides us the opportunity to grow and diversify our insurance platform into a market that has very attractive underwriting dynamics. The acquisition represents a key strategic step toward building out our insurance business into shorter-tail specialty lines and is expected to be accretive to earnings in the first year."
