Applied Underwriters has announced that it anticipates completing its acquisition of Alaska Timber Insurance Exchange (ATIE) as soon as the fourth quarter. ATIE, an Alaska-domiciled reciprocal exchange, is converting from a reciprocal to a stock insurance company, and recently received regulatory approval. An accord reached between Applied Underwriters and ATIE in September 2020 set the procedures for the transaction, including North America Casualty Company’s purchase of ATIE.
It is common practice for enterprises that were organized as a reciprocal, a mutual or other member benefit organization to convert to a stock company in order to attract capital and grow more readily in their field, Applied said. The conversion was approved by ATIE members in May and has now received final regulatory approval from the Alaska Division of Insurance.
Jamie Sahara, president of Applied Underwriters, said Applied’s interest in ATIE was natural.
“While ATIE was originally created to serve the Alaskan forest products industry for its particular needs in the non-assessable workers’ compensation area,” Sahara said, “it has diversified successfully since 2002 such that its book of business is 13% in that risk factor, while 87% is outside of logging and forestry-related risks, mostly in complex underwriting areas in which we have great experience and depth.
“Moreover, the service standards and risk management protocol observed by ATIE are similar to those of Applied, as are its advanced loss control engineering, efficient operating platform and excellent client retention results. We believe that this will prove an advantage for Alaskan businesses and for each enterprise’s clients. We look forward to completing this transaction and to gaining and serving a major share of the Alaskan market.”
