White Mountain unit sells subsidiary

OneBeacon Insurance, a subsidiary of White Mountain Insurance, announced Oct. 4 that it has completed the $142 million sale of its National Farmers Union Property and Casualty Company subsidiary to QBE Insurance.

The sale, first announced in July, includes NFU’s wholly owned United Security Insurance subsidiary. NFI wrote $178 million in premiums last year.

OneBeacon, based in Boston, is wholly owned by White Mountain Insurance, whose U.S. headquarters are located in Hanover. It first acquired NFU in 1998, but concluded that the rural company – while performing well – had a different focus from OneBeacon.

“We would have kept it forever, if we didn’t have such an attractive offer,” David Foy, chief financial officer of the firm, told NHBR Daily. “But it wasn’t a perfect fit. NFU was mainly in the Midwest and sold through the unions. OneBeacon sold personal lines, commercial lines and had more of specialty focus.” – BOB SANDERS