In a deal billed as the “largest transaction in the history of British Columbia insurance brokers,” Western Financial Group has reached an agreement to acquire Coast Capital Insurance Services Ltd. (CCIS) from Coast Capital Savings Credit Union.
CCIS is a subsidiary of Coast Capital and currently offers property, casualty, commercial, life and disability insurance products through 32 retail insurance offices and a call centre.
The deal, expected to be completed on July 2, 2013, will see Western adding CCIS’s retail insurance offices into the fold. Prior to the deal, 29 existing Western Financial branches operated in 22 communities throughout British Columbia.
When combined with other acquisitions expected to close at the end of 2013, Western Financial will have 75 branches in Lower Mainland, B.C. and 160 branches west of Manitoba.
“It really gives us a strong footprint now in the Lower Mainland, and particularly on Vancouver Island,” Scott Tannas, president and CEO of Western, said of the Coast Capital acquisition. “We’re getting close to saying ‘Mission accomplished’ in terms of building our network out in B.C.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Tannas told Insurance Business he was “very confident it would be the largest transaction in the history of British Columbia insurance brokers. No question about that. It’s a good one.”
Tannas said Western was particularly interested in the innovative Coast Home and Coast Auto products. They are provided by insurers, but sold to consumers through CCIS branches under the Coast brand. Tannas said the deal allows Western to add a house brand to its current offering. (continued.)
“They have a very strong house brand,” Tannas said. “They don’t have any other offering other than that. We think the two together, what they have and what we have, will make an interesting hybrid for the future.”
For Coast, the deal allows the credit union to focus on its core banking services such as banking and wealth management. The life and disability insurance business of CCIS will remain with Coast Capital.
“At Coast Capital we’re proud of all that our insurance subsidiary and its employees have accomplished,” said Tracy Redies, CEO of Coast Capital. “When we decided to concentrate our resources on our core banking business, our goal was to find a partner who could help CCIS grow further and reach its full potential.”
CCIS branches will continue to operate under the CCIS name and branding for at least two years. After that, the branches will change to Western branding, and insurance products will continue to be sold from the CCIS branches. Western will continue to employ all of CCIS’s 242 staff members while working with Coast Capital to enhance banking and insurance offerings to both Western and CCIS customers.
“For us, it’s a great situation, too, because there is no overlap,” said Tannas. “There are no job redundancies. There is no overlap of footprints in any significant way.”
Western Financial Group is a subsidiary of Desjardins Group (Desjardins), the largest co-operative financial group in Canada.
