OneBeacon To Sell Commercial Book To Tower

OneBeacon To Sell Commercial Book To Tower

NU Online News Service, Sept. 16, 12:55 p.m. EDT?Boston-based OneBeacon Insurance said it plans to sell the renewal rights to a portion of its commercial business to Tower Insurance Group, based in New York City.[@@]

OneBeacon, a subsidiary of Bermuda-based White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd., said the deal would not involve the commercial business it acquired from Atlantic Mutual New York earlier this year.

OneBeacon said the transition will impact approximately $110 million of premiums and is expected to begin with Dec. 1^st renewals.

In addition to the Atlantic Mutual commercial business, the company said it also plans to retain its own segmented middle-markets book of business, all personal lines, and all specialty operations, including International Marine Underwriters and AutoOne in New York state. It would not impact business in any other state.

John Cavoores, president and chief executive officer of OneBeacon, said in a statement: "Our real strength in New York has been in specialty and personal lines. Through the Atlantic Specialty acquisition, we added a great team offering segmented middle-market business, which, along with OnePac for small business, has become our primary focus for commercial lines. Agents transferred to Tower will be well served by the underwriting appetite of our friends at Tower Group."

OneBeacon purchased the Atlantic Mutual book earlier this year as Atlantic Mutual refocused its business on affluent personal lines. The purchase involved the hiring of 300 Atlantic Mutual employees by OneBeacon at the time.