Berkshire Hathaway has offloaded Applied Underwriters to its founder and president Steve Menzies and an investment firm in deal valued at $920m.
Under the terms of the contract, Menzies and Quasha Group, led by New York-based Quadrant Management, have agreed to buy Applied Underwriters and its subsidiary North American Casualty.
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The deal includes acquisition of all other shareholders along with the 81% stake owned by Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway.
Menzies said: “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.”
Applied Underwriters provides workers compensation and other employment-related insurance products for small and medium-sized (SEMs) businesses under the names SolutionOne and EquityComp.
Founded in 1994, Applied Underwriters has a team of approximately 800 people.
Earlier in February, Berkshire Hathaway was holding talks to divest its workers compensation business Applied Underwriters to a consortium of insurance companies, Reuters reported citing people familiar with the development.
