Insurance specialist Wand in $45m deal

Private equity firms Wand Partners and Inverness Management have acquired two insurance companies from Arch Capital Group.

The acquisition of The American Independent Insurance Holding Company and The Personal Service Insurance Company was done through a $45 million (€34 million) cash transaction.

American Independent provides auto insurance in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Ohio. The company will continue to be led by president and chief executive officer Bill Lockhorn, an investor in the transaction. In an interview, Wand Partners chairman Bruce Schnitzer said his firm would seek add on acquisitions for the newly independent platform.

Arch Capital, with more than $2.5 billion in capital, is a Bermuda-based company that provides insurance and reinsurance.

Wand has previously completed 10 insurance investments. Inverness, described by a press release as “closely associated” with Wand, is a private equity fund manager with more than $350 million in commitments. It focuses on “out-of-favor” industries.

Early this month, Arch Capital announced it received a subpoena from the New York State Attorney General requesting “certain information concerning its underwriting activities with respect to insurance coverages to lawyers and law firms for acts of professional malpractice,” according to a press release.