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22/03/2022


Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to Buy Alleghany for $11.6 Billion

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said it reached an agreement with Alleghany Corp. to buy the New York-based property and casualty insurer for about $11.6 billion.

Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire will acquire all outstanding Alleghany shares for $848.02 per share in cash in a transaction unanimously approved by both boards of directors. Berkshire said the acquisition price represents a multiple of 1.26 times Alleghany’s book value at Dec. 31, 2021.

The deal brings Joseph Brandon, Alleghany’s president and CEO, back into the Berkshire family. From 2001-2008, Brandon was chair and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway’s General Re Corp. He joined Alleghany as executive vice president in 2012 and succeeded Weston Hicks as president of Alleghany in April last year. Buffett said he was “particularly delighted” to again work with “long-time friend” Brandon.

“This is a terrific transaction for Alleghany’s owners, businesses, customers, and employees,” said Brandon, in a statement. “As part of Berkshire Hathaway, which epitomizes our long-term management philosophy, each of Alleghany’s businesses will be exceptionally well positioned to serve its clients and achieve its full potential.”

Alleghany will continue to operate as an independent entity. The deal is set to close in the fourth quarter after regulatory approvals and approval by Alleghany stockholders.

In a statement, Berkshire CEO Buffett said he has been watching Alleghany closely for over 60 years, and that Alleghany “has many similarities to Berkshire Hathaway.”

In addition to General Re, Berkshire’s reinsurance and specialty businesses include National Indemnity, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty and USLI, among others. Alleghany’s reinsurance and specialty operations include TransRe, RSUI and CapSpecialty. Berkshire’s insurance operations also include personal lines giant GEICO.

Like Berkshire, in addition to operations in insurance and reinsurance, Alleghany has an extensive portfolio of investments in non-insurance companies. The company was started in 1929 will a focus on real estate in Cleveland before entering the railroad business. When its founders died, Robert Young and Allan Kirby purchased the company and focused on an acquired mutual funds business to recover from the effects of the Great Depression. Alleghany sold its stake in the mutual funds business in 1984 and used the proceeds to get into insurance. The Kirby family has remained a part of Alleghany.

“My family and I have been significant shareholders of Alleghany for over 85 years and are proud that our ownership will culminate through this compelling transaction with Berkshire Hathaway. Not only does this deal provide substantial and certain value to stockholders, but it provides a rare opportunity to join forces with a like-minded and highly respected investor and business leader,” said Jefferson W. Kirby, chairman of the Alleghany Board of Directors.

This would mark the largest deal for Berkshire since 2016, according to reports. It comes about a month after Buffett, in his annual letters to shareholders, said: “Today, internal opportunities deliver far better returns than acquisitions.” Another option to increase value in investments with Berkshire, Buffett explained, would be to buy “non-controlling, part-interests in businesses,” but here he also added that “we find little that excites us.”

The deal also come after a handful of Berkshire shareholders recently recommended Buffett be replaced as chairman and report on environmental, social, and governance issues. Days later, the share price of Berkshire Hathaway reached $500,000 for the first time.

Under the terms of the definitive merger agreement, Alleghany may actively solicit and consider alternative acquisition proposals during a 25-day “go-shop” period. Alleghany has the right to terminate the merger agreement to accept a superior proposal, subject to the terms of the merger agreement.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is serving as financial advisor and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is serving as legal advisor to Alleghany. Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP is serving as legal advisor to Berkshire Hathaway. (Source: Insurance Journal)

22/03/2022


S**C snaps up Ondo to make it first public ‘insurtech’ firm in London

Ondo has become the first ‘insurtech’ firm to go public in the capital today, as listed acquisition vehicle Spinnaker Acquisitions snaps up the firm and brings it onto the London Stock Exchange.

Ondo, which creates a water security system to detect leaks, has partnered with firms including Hiscox and Direct Line in the UK to help customers to detect leaks as they happen.

The floatation has raised £3.4m at 12p per share for Ondo, bosses said, and will see it also change its name from Leakbot.

Ondo boss Craig Foster told City A.M. the move marked a milestone for the firm.

“We are delighted to have reached this milestone of admission to trading as an independent public company.

The whole Ondo team is looking forward to the challenge and significant opportunity ahead of us”.

Chairman Mark Wood has helped steer the firm on to the markets after he helped take pensions fintech PensionBee public last year at a valuation of £375m.

Foster told City A.M. the firm was now eyeing up a rapid expansion in the US where demand was growing for insurtech products.

Water leaks account for 30 per cent of home insurance claims – equivalent to $17bn a year across the UK and USA. (Source: Insurtech Insights)

22/03/2022


Layr raises $10 million

Layr announced $10 million in Series A funding led by HSCM Ventures, with participation from MGV, Sandbox Industries, Flyover Capital, and Hannover Digital Investments. A group of insurance brokerages and professionals also joined the round including The Plexus Groupe, IMA Corp, Holmes Murphy, The Partners Group, The Graham Agency, Broker Tech Ventures, and other insurtechs.

Founded in 2016, the Atlanta-based startup offers brokers a platform that digitizes “the entire insurance process.” Layr features a variety of tools such as a digital storefront, customer service portals, and licensed human agent support, and it doesn’t make use of APIs so agencies can integrate its services with existing analog workflows.

“Our mission is to empower insurance brokers and agents with a world-class digital experience. This serves their clients better and makes existing workflows more efficient. This funding round will enable the amazing team at Layr to maximize brokerages profitability and deliver the optimal experience for their insureds, and I’m extremely proud of our work!” – Phillip Naples, Layr founder, and CEO.

“Layr helps weaponize its partner agents with immediate quotes and faster underwriting. We believe this will unlock an enormous amount of efficiency for the insurance market.” – Brandon Baron, VP at HSCM. (Source: Coverager)

21/03/2022


Belgian insurtech snags 2.2 million to expand in Flemish market

Just a week after Parisian insurtech +Simple wrapped up €90 million funding and acquired three European firms to boost digital brokerage, Belgian insurtech Seraphin has rechristened as Yago and raised €2.2 million.

The round saw the participation of BeAngels, investor Nicolas Debray, HI Invest, IPM and early investors. The fresh capital will enable the newly renamed insurtech to strengthen the business efforts of the startup in the north of the country.

According to a recent EY report, the insurance sector in Belgium is still lagging behind in terms of digitisation. While in the Netherlands more than 60% of consumers already take out car insurance online, this is barely 5-10% in Belgium. Between 2018 and 2021, the willingness of Belgian consumers to take out insurance online has doubled.

The name change, which now sounds too French, will drive the Belgian startup’s ambitious plan to better establish itself in Flanders, a market which currently represents 13% of its clientele.

Tanguy Bocquet, co-CEO, Yago said: “We are aware that 55% of consumers say they do not trust insurance companies. Amid the cumbersome and complex administration and the fear of being scammed, Belgians can feel lost in this world of fine print.”

Yago simplifies the process of taking out insurance by presenting the best offers in less than three minutes. “Within two hours after submitting a claim online, they will be called back, guided and advised by our lawyers. This expertise is essential in addition to the digital one,” Bocquet added.

According to Hugues Bocquet, co-CEO, Yago, the company will rollout an embedded ecosystem for the sale of insurance contracts and continue our development in Flanders. “Yago is also launching mortgage brokerage to transform the customer experience to make it easier to get a loan,” he added.

Yago currently has more than 8,000 customers and 15,000 insurance contracts. In 2021, it scored 70% on the Net Promoter Score (NPS), while the average of Belgian insurers is 6% according to a study by Accenture. (Source: Tech EU)

21/03/2022


Arthur J. Gallagher buys Hawley & Associates

Arthur J. Gallagher has bought broker firm Hawley & Associates for an undisclosed amount.

Arthur J. Gallagher & CoA statement from Arthur J. Gallagher said that Hawley & Associates was founded seventeen years ago to provide insurance services for adoption, foster care, and child welfare agencies. The business will continue to be run by Phil Hawley and will operate in the same office, but now under the direction of Jim Buckley, head of the northwest region’s property and casualty brokerage operations for Gallagher.

J. Patrick Gallagher, chairman, president, and CEO of Arthur J. Gallagher, said: “The Hawley & Associates team offers deep expertise in the non-profit, and for-profit social services sector, particularly in the specialized and challenging child welfare, foster care, and adoption segment. We are delighted to welcome Phil and his associates to our growing global team.”

Arthur J. Gallagher has been on an acquisitions spree in recent months, having acquired the VanDyke Group and Real Estate Insurance Solutions in November. Those acquisitions followed others in May last year of Mutual Brokers and Koff & Associates, and of the Norwegian firm Parisco in April. (Source: Reinsurance News)

21/03/2022


Canopy, remote monitoring platform for oncology practices, raises $13M

Canopy, which makes software for oncology practices, has raised $13 million in a funding round,

The round was led by GSR Ventures with participation from Samsung Next, UpWest and others. The funding will be used to bring more employees on board across all teams, the company told Fierce Healthcare. Canopy’s clients include the Quality Cancer Care Alliance, Cancer Specialists of North Florida, Los Angeles Cancer Network and Cancer and Hematology Centers of Western Michigan.

The company aims to improve health outcomes for cancer patients by enabling continuous remote monitoring and physician-patient engagement. It leans on machine learning and artificial intelligence to personalize the experience based on patient treatment, disease and behavioral patterns. Canopy’s Intelligent Care Platform, which it claims is the first of its kind, features tools integrated with electronic health record systems that facilitate remote monitoring, streamline workflows and automated reimbursement capture.

The solution is currently used by six practices, which have a collective 50,000 patients, with a daily average of 100 users per practice, the company told Fierce Healthcare.

“There’s no doubt in the world that the pandemic completely changed everyone’s views on how patients, and specifically older patients, can engage with technology,” Lavi Kwiatkowsky, CEO and founder of Canopy, told Fierce Healthcare. If before COVID-19 physicians doubted that patients, especially those that are older, would use technology to self-report symptoms, now there is recognition that they do.

At one practice, Canopy’s platform has an 86% patient enrollment rate, an 88% engagement rate and a retention rate of 90% at six months among oncology practices nationwide. Later this year, the company expects to put out clinical data that show reductions in emergency department utilization and inpatient admissions, executives said.

“Lots of digital health companies will focus on simple administrative tasks but not go as far to publish outcomes and prove their technology is really changing things that matter most to patient care,” Justin Norden, M.D., partner at GSR Ventures, told Fierce Healthcare. But Canopy has done both well, he said.

“Having a proactive tool like Canopy removes barriers to care and allows patients to feel safe and share potentially serious symptoms that they may otherwise have not otherwise disclosed, and us, as a practice, to offer them timely support,” said Jeff Hunnicutt, CEO of Highlands Oncology Group, in the announcement. “This higher level of trust and communication is a subtle, but powerful paradigm shift that we’ve seen lead to dramatically improved outcomes for our patients.” (Source: Fierce Healthcare)

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