OneBeacon Insurance Group announced Friday that it would exit the US crop insurance business upon the sale of its exclusive managing general agency.
OneBeacon reached an agreement to sell San Francisco-based Climate Crop Insurance Agency, including all the company’s existing business, to
AmTrust Financial Services.
AmTrust will also take over policyholder servicing.
Mike Miller, president and CEO of Bermuda-based OneBeacon, said the company was committed to “ensuring a smooth transfer for both our policyholders and for the Climate crop insurance business team.”
“We have terminated our relationship with The Climate Corporation and have withdrawn our Plan of Operations with the US Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency for the 2016 crop year.”
The sale comes amid reports from grain analysts that crop insurance price guarantees for US corn, soybeans and spring wheat would drop 10% or more in 2015, based on futures settlement prices for February.
OneBeacon has also experienced a drop of nearly 3.53% in the past year. According to its most recent earnings report, shares reached a one-year low of $13.61 in June and the company has underperformed the index by 2.04% in the past four weeks.
