QBE Insurance Group Sells Lender-Based Insurance Business to National General Holdings Corp.

QBE Sells lender-basee insuranceNational General Holdings Corp. announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire the Lender-Placed Insurance business of QBE North America, a division of QBE Insurance Group Limited.The transaction includes the acquisition of certain assets, including loan-tracking systems and technology, client servicing accounts, intellectual property, and vendor relationships, as well as the assumption all related insurance liabilities in a reinsurance transaction through which National General will receive the loss reserves, unearned premium reserves, and invested assets at closing. As of June 30, 2015 these amounts were approximately $92 million, $247 million, and $342 million, respectively. The purchase price will be an aggregate cash payment of $90 million, payable at closing, which is expected to occur within 90 days. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

Source: Source: Streetwise | Published on July 16, 2015

Michael Karfunkel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of National General, stated: "This acquisition facilitates National General's entry into the lender-placed insurance segment for auto and homeowners risks with an industry leading platform and management team. While the lender-placed business has had difficulties in the past, we believe it is now an area of great opportunity after numerous changes that have been enacted throughout the industry. We are excited to add this complementary niche business to our profitable and growing personal lines franchise, and we believe it is a natural fit with our homeowners and auto expansion efforts. We look forward to working with the existing management team and employees and providing them with the broad resources and capabilities that National General has to offer. We expect the transaction to be immediately accretive to earnings."

About QBE Lender-Placed Insurance (LPI)

QBE LPI, the second largest lender-placed insurance platform in the U.S., produced $576 million of gross written and managed premium in 2014 and tracked 10.7 million home and auto loans as of December 31, 2014. QBE LPI offers a full suite of lender-placed insurance products to customers through three business segments: (1) LPI Home offers fire, home, and flood products, wrote $390 million GWP and tracked 7.8 million loans in 2014; (2) LPI Auto offers collateral protection insurance and guaranteed asset protection products for automobiles, wrote $150 million GWP and tracked 2.9 million loans in 2014; and (3) Seattle Specialty Insurance Services is an agency and tracking business focused on the smaller niche loan servicing market which wrote $36 million of GWP primarily on behalf of third-parties and tracked 595,000 loans in 2014. The company has an industry leading technology platform supported by comprehensive enterprise risk management capabilities, and a seasoned management team with significant operational expertise.

About National General Holdings Corp.

National General Holdings Corp., headquartered in New York City, is a specialty personal lines insurance holding company. National General traces its roots to 1939, has a financial strength rating of A- (excellent) from A.M. Best, and provides personal and commercial automobile, homeowners, umbrella, recreational vehicle, motorcycle, supplemental health, and other niche insurance products.