South Korea’s second largest non-life insurer DB Insurance coverage will purchase 100% of the excellent shares of the US based mostly specialty insurer The Fortegra Group for KRW2.3tn ($1.65bn).
The South Korean insurer will purchase the corporate in money from Tiptree and Warburg Pincus and the transaction might be funded with inside assets from DB Insurance coverage. The transaction will mark the most important U.S. market entry by a Korean non-life insurer.
DB Insurance coverage first entered the US market in 1984 by means of its Guam department and has since pursued a differentiated international enterprise technique with the aim of creating “a second DB Insurance coverage” overseas. The choice to amass Fortegra, with 2024 annual premiums of KRW4.4tn, displays a strategic step to safe scale and capabilities as a world insurance coverage group.
Based in 1978 and headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, Fortegra has constructed a portfolio spanning specialty insurance coverage, different insurance coverage and companies. The corporate operates throughout the US and Europe, supported by robust underwriting self-discipline and threat administration, and has maintained a long-term mixed ratio of roughly 90%.
For 2024, Fortegra reported gross written premiums of $3.07bn (KRW4.4tn) and internet earnings of $140m. It operates in all 50 US states and eight European nations, together with the UK and Italy, and holds an A- monetary power ranking from A.M. Finest.
The acquisition is anticipated to supply DB Insurance coverage with a platform for international progress on the planet’s largest P&C markets, allow entry into the worthwhile surety and guarantee sectors, and improve earnings stability by means of broader geographic and business-line diversification.
DB Insurance coverage head of worldwide enterprise Ki-Hyun Park stated, “By combining Fortegra’s experience with DB Insurance coverage’s international community and capital power, we goal to reinforce buyer worth and market competitiveness whereas concurrently reaching our twin targets of accelerating shareholder worth and contributing to the nationwide financial system.”
Fortegra group CEO Rick Kahlbaugh stated, “This settlement with DB Insurance coverage marks a big new chapter in Fortegra’s journey. We sit up for partnering with DB Insurance coverage to advance the shared aim of constructing a number one insurance coverage group.”
DB Insurance coverage was established as Korea’s first vehicle insurance coverage firm in 1962 and at present is the second largest non-life insurer in South Korea, servicing over 11m clients. DB Insurance coverage presents a diversified portfolio together with long-term medical, auto, and property and casualty insurance coverage insurance policies.
Fortegra, by way of its subsidiaries, has for over 45 years underwritten threat administration options as a multinational specialty insurer whose insurance coverage subsidiaries have an A.M. Finest Monetary Power Ranking of A- (Wonderful) and an A.M. Finest Monetary Dimension Class of ‘X’,
