Canadian property and casualty insurer, Intact Financial Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger to acquire leading US specialty insurer OneBeacon Insurance Group for $1.7 billion.

Intact Financial OneBeacon Insurance Acquisition Deal

As per the terms of the all-cash deal, Intact Financial will pay the shareholders of OneBeacon Insurance $18.10 cash for each of the common shares.

Intact Financial stated that apart from that, the debt of OneBeacon which amounts to nearly $275 million will remain outstanding.

The OneBeacon Insurance acquisition deal by Intact Financial is expected to create a leading specialty insurance company in North America having more than $2 billion of annual premiums.

Charles Brindamour, CEO of Intact Financial Corporation, commented on the Intact Financial OneBeacon Insurance acquisition deal as: “Today, we’ve taken an important step in building a world class P&C insurer. The addition of OneBeacon is creating a leading North American specialty lines insurer focused on small to mid-sized businesses.

“OneBeacon is a strong strategic fit for Intact, with deep expertise in commercial and specialty lines, and shared values. We see significant growth potential from the combination of our specialty lines operations and we look forward to welcoming OneBeacon employees to the Intact family.”

Intact Financial acquisition of OneBeacon Insurance will combine the Canadian company’s commercial lines track record and deep data, claims and digital expertise with the American specialty insurer’s high quality team and specialty lines capabilities.

The OneBeacon Insurance acquisition deal would strengthen the Canadian business of Intact Financial with new products and cross-border capabilities. It is also expected to put Intact Financial in better positions to take on international insurance companies.

Additionally, it would provide an additional growth pipeline to take advantage of the Canadian insurance company’s consolidation expertise in an otherwise fragmented specialty lines sector.

Mike Miller, CEO of OneBeacon Insurance Group, on the Intact Financial acquisition of OneBeacon Insurance said: “We are all very excited to join the Intact family. The opportunity to leverage Intact’s deep technical, financial and technology capabilities makes this combination the perfect next step in the OneBeacon journey.

“Together, we will accelerate our pursuit in creating a leading specialty insurer in North America. We look forward to working with our US and Canadian independent agents and brokers to deliver market-leading capabilities to our targeted customers.

“Both companies are dedicated to ensuring a seamless transition and look forward to profitably growing our specialty portfolio going forward.”

The Intact Financial OneBeacon Insurance deal has been approved unanimously by the two companies’ boards and is yet to be approved by the shareholders of the US specialty insurer.

White Mountains Insurance Group, the controlling stakeholder of OneBeacon Insurance had entered into a voting agreement with Intact Financial to support the Intact Financial OneBeacon Insurance deal.

Intact Financial acquisition of OneBeacon Insurance is likely to be completed in the fourth quarter of the year provided it meets all the customary closing conditions.

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