Aquiline Capital Partners has completed the acquisition of Equity Insurance Group, a specialist motor insurer, from Insurance Australia Group.
Equity Insurance Group provides auto insurance to more than one million policyholders. The company, through its Equity Red Star division, offers a range of insurance for private cars, classic cars, vans, motorcycles, taxis, minibuses, fleets, haulage and agricultural vehicles, households and personal accidents. The company is one of the ten largest motor insurers in the UK and has been insuring commercial and individual customers for more than 60 years. Equity Insurance Group is based in Brentwood, UK (www.equitygroup.co.uk).
Aquiline Capital Partners invests in financial services enterprises in industries such as property and casualty insurance, banking, securities, asset management, life insurance and financial technology. The firm is based in New York (www.aquiline-llc.com).
With the closing of the transaction, Aquiline has appointed Ian Parker as Chief Executive Officer of Equity Insurance Group. The company has also announced a new board of directors which includes Patrick O’Sullivan as Chairman. Messrs. Parker and O’Sullivan will lead the company’s senior leadership team in redirecting the emphasis of the business to its core specialty motor insurance lines.
Mr. Parker joins Equity Insurance Group from specialist insurer and reinsurer Hardy Underwriting, where he was Chief Operating Officer. Previously, he served as Zurich Financial Services’ Chief Executive of Direct & Partnership European General Insurance and Chairman of Zuritel S.p.A and Deutsche Allgemeiner Versicherung.
Mr. O’Sullivan brings to the company decades of experience in insurance and financial services. Most recently, he served as Vice Chairman of Zurich Financial Services. He is the Chairman of Old Mutual and a non-executive director of Man Group plc and Bank of Ireland.
“Equity Insurance Group has been a leading underwriter in the specialty motor space,” said Jeff Greenberg, Chief Executive of Aquiline. “Ian and Patrick are great additions to the team and their leadership will be integral in building the company’s reputation for market-leading underwriting profitability and customer service over the coming years. We look forward to working with Ian and Patrick and the rest of the senior leadership team.”
Macquarie Capital acted as sole financial adviser to Aquiline on the transaction.
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 4-22-13
