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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
BRANCHVILLE, N.J.—Selective Insurance Group Inc. plans to enter the excess and surplus lines market by purchasing renewal rights to a $77 million book of commercial insurance business from Alterra Capital Holdings Ltd.
Selective, based in Branchville, N.J., said it will write the business on Bermuda-based Alterra's paper until it gains regulatory approvals for a facility to be formed to write E&S business in all U.S. states.
Approvals are expected before the end of the year, Selective said in a statement this week.
Selective is acquiring rights to the commercial business written under “contract binding authority” by general agents contracted by Alterra, Alterra said in a statement. The business produced gross premiums of $77 million in 2010.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Operation's leaders
Joseph F. Morris, former president and CEO of James River Insurance Co., a Richmond, Va.-based unit of Franklin Holdings (Bermuda) Ltd., will head Selective's E&S operation.
Joe Mossbrook, head of Alterra's contract binding authority division, also will join Selective and “substantially all” of the employees in the division are expected to be offered employment with Selective, Alterra said.
W. Marston Becker, president and CEO of Alterra, said the business it is selling to Selective does not fit with Alterra's long-term strategy. “Our agreement with Selective recognizes the value of our (contract binding authority) division and ensures its continued operations, which we considered of importance in negotiating the transaction,” he said in the statement.