NEW YORK, April 1, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- National General Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq:NGHC) today announced that it has closed upon the acquisition of Assigned Risk Solutions Ltd. ("ARS"), a New Jersey based managing general agency that services assigned risk, personal auto, and commercial lines of business, for a purchase price of $47 million in cash and potential future earnout payments.
Michael Karfunkel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of National General, stated: "We are excited about the addition of ARS to our growing personal lines franchise. ARS has a solid track record of profitability, managed over $100 million in premium in 2014 across their multi-state distribution platform, and is a dominant player in this niche market which is a unique and complementary business to our current portfolio. The transaction provides a valuable stream of fee income which we believe we can grow in the years to come, increased geographic diversification, expansion into a new product line, and we expect will be immediately accretive to earnings. We believe this combination will enhance both companies, including the benefit of putting ARS on our low-cost state-of-the-art technology platform, and we look forward to working with the ARS team and providing them with the broad resources and capabilities that National General has to offer."
Locke Lord LLP acted as legal counsel to National General in connection with the transaction.
About Assigned Risk Solutions Ltd. (ARS)
Based in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, Assigned Risk Solutions, Ltd. (ARS) is a full service managing general agency that services assigned risk auto, private passenger auto and commercial lines of business. ARS also offers a comprehensive suite of claims, investigative, and cost containment services that are cost effective and complementary to client companies. ARS is licensed in 22 states with a heavy concentration of business coming from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, has over 230 employees, and is the only assigned risk operation of its kind that has continually been in operation for more than a half-century.
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.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on the Company. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as "may," "will," "plan," "expect," "project," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate" and "believe" or their variations or similar terminology. There can be no assurance that actual developments will be those anticipated by the Company. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements as a result of significant risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, non-receipt of expected payments from insureds or reinsurers, changes in interest rates, a downgrade in the financial strength ratings of our insurance subsidiaries, the effect of the performance of financial markets on our investment portfolio, estimates of the fair value of life settlement contracts, development of claims and the effect on loss reserves, accuracy in projecting loss reserves, the cost and availability of reinsurance coverage, the effects of emerging claim and coverage issues, changes in the demand for our products, our degree of success in integrating acquired businesses, the effect of general economic conditions, state and federal legislation, regulations and regulatory investigations into industry practices, risks associated with conducting business outside the United States, developments relating to existing agreements, disruptions to our business relationships, breaches in data security or other disruptions involving our technology, heightened competition, changes in pricing environments, and changes in asset valuations. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made only as of the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement except as may be required by law. Additional information about these risks and uncertainties, as well as others that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.