White Mts. execs split $6.75m in deal-related bonuses

White Mountains Insurance Group has rewarded its top executives with $6.75 million in special bonuses for their work in building up and selling off the company’s Esurance and Answer Financial units, the company disclosed last week to the Securities and Exchange Commission.The company’s compensation committed approved $2 million to CEO Raymond Barrette, who works out of White Mountains’ Hanover headquarters. (The company is officially based in Bermuda for tax purposes.) In 2010, Barrette compensate package totaled $1.7 million.Another $1 million went to Reid Campbell, managing director of White Mountains Capital. Campbell’s compensation totaled $2.7 million last year.The company did not disclosed who got the rest of the special bonuses.The insurance conglomerate sold off its auto insurance divisions to Allstate in May for an estimated $1 billion in cash — about $700 million above its tangible book value.The two former subsidiaries – the only to sell directly to consumers — reported $927 million in revenue in 2010 and posted a pre-tax income of $15.5 million.White Mountains acquired a majority interest in Esurance – a leading online provider of auto insurance — in 2000. Terms of that deal were not disclosed.White Mountain added Answer Financial Inc. to Esurance in January 2008, by acquiring a 42 percent stake in the company for $30 million. Answer is another online insurance company that offers comparable quotes for automobile and homeowners lines. Both companies are based in California.Barrette had called the Allstate deal “a win-win transaction,” when it was announced in May. — BOB SANDERS/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW