Alliant Insurance Services — a Newport Beach, California-based property and casualty insurance distributor — has agreed to acquire Senior Market Sales (SMS).
SMS is an Omaha, Nebraska-based distributor of life insurance, health insurance, travel insurance, long-term care insurance and annuity products aimed at people ages 60 and older.
(Related: Federal Life to Issue a High-Deductible Medigap Policy)
Milton Kleinberg, a longtime insurance agent and general agent, started SMS, as a Medicare supplement insurance agency, in 1982. He brought his son, Hershel Kleinberg, in as chief technology officer, in 1997. Jim Summers became the president.
The company now has about 300 employees and relationships with about 65,000 agents. It offers agents training services, technical support services and marketing support services.
SMS sales trainers have written many articles for trade publications over the years.
About a year ago, SMS positioned itself as a company that had an in-house Medicare plan database that could help agents cope with problems with an update of the official Medicare Plan Finder system.
Federal Life Group recently began working with SMS to roll out a series of new Medigap products.
The would-be buyer, Alliant, is known as an enthusiastic acquirer of sales talent. Aon and Wells Fargo, for example, have gone to court in some cases to try to keep Alliant from luring producers away.
Alliant is not saying what has agreed to pay for SMS, but it says that it intends to make SMS part of its employee benefits group.
After the deal is completed, SMS will keep its name, its staff and its headquarters, according to Alliant.
Tom Corbett, the chief executive officer of Alliant, said in a comment about the deal, which was included in the deal announcement, that acquiring SMS will help Alliant provide brokers and their clients with services beyond today’s employee benefits.
“This solidifies our commitment to a full-service benefits platform and diversifies our offerings with innovative new technologies, tools, and resources that will further enhance our products and services to agents across the U.S.,” Corbett said.
— Read Medicare Managers Update Their Plan Finder, on ThinkAdvisor.
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