Specialty insurer ProSight bought by private equity group

ProSight Global Inc., a specialty insurer that went public in 2019, will be taken private in a deal with private equity firms valued at about $586 million.

The Morristown, New Jersey-based insurer, which was founded in 2009, will be majority-owned by TowerBrook Capital Partners LP, which is based in London and New York, and New York-based Further Global Capital Management LP will hold a minority stake, the investment firms said in a statement. A new CEO was also named.

Under the terms of the deal, ProSight stockholders will receive $12.85 a share in cash. ProSight’s stock price was trading down at about $12.75 in a declining market Friday afternoon.

As part of the deal, ProSight will enter into a reinsurance agreement with Bermuda-based legacy reinsurer Enstar Group Ltd. to cover discontinued workers compensation and excess workers compensation business. ProSight will cede net loss reserves of approximately $500 million and Enstar will provide an additional aggregate limit of $250 million, according to an Enstar statement. ProSight exited the excess workers comp business early last year.

Jonathan Ritz, former CEO of Validus Specialty, will be brought in as CEO of ProSight. Current CEO Larry Hannon will be president.

TowerBrook and Further Global said in the statement announcing the deal, “ProSight will become a private company with the flexibility and capital to accelerate its next stage of growth.”

ProSight offers admitted and nonadmitted coverage, specializing in nine industry sectors: construction, consumer services, energy, marine, media, professional services, real estate, sports and transportation. In addition, the insurer launched a captive insurance offering last year.

The insurer, which is rated A- by A.M. Best Co. Inc., went public in July 2019, raising about $110 million.

In 2019, it reported $968 million in gross written premium, net income of $38.9 million and a combined ratio of 98%. Its largest segment was real estate, which accounted for 17% of its gross written premium, followed by consumer services with 13.8% and media with 12.9%.

ProSight reported $603.7 million in gross written premium for the first nine months of 2020, net income of $26.1 million and a combined ratio of 101.6%, according to its latest financial report.