Primerica Agrees to Acquire Etelequote: Deals

Primerica Inc., the Duluth, Georgia-based life insurer, has agreed to acquire Etelequote Ltd., which distributes Medicare plans online and through call companies, in a deal that could close by July 1.

Etelequote is a 10-year-old, Clearwater, Florida-based company that  has about 150,000 customers.

Primerica could end up spending about $575 million on the company, which is commonly known as e-TeleQuote.

The Resource Group International Ltd. now owns 70.25% of Etelequote’s stock, and Etelequote’s managers own 9.75%.

Primerica plans to start by buying 80% of the e-TeleQuote operating subsidiaries, then buying the rest of Etelequote over a four-year period, the companies say.

Primerica says it will pay $360 million for the 80% equity stake, refinance $150 million in Etelequote debt, and provide a $15 million seller’s note.

If the Etelequote operations do well this year and next, the Etelequote stockholders could get $50 million in additional cash, the companies say.

In other insurance deal news:

Independence Holding Company and a subsidiary have agreed to sell Standard Security Life Insurance Company of New York to Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company for $180 million in cash.

IHC is an insurer based in Stamford, Connecticut. Reliance Standard is an arm of Tokio Marine Group.

Standard Security Life of New York is an insurer domiciled in New York that was founded in 1957. It generated $122 million in gross written premiums in 2020 from selling New York state short-term disability insurance and New York state statutory paid family leave plans.

FBL Financial Group Inc. says the Iowa Insurance Division has approved an arrangement that calls for a sister company, Farm Bureau Property & Casualty Insurance Company, to acquire all outstanding shares of FBL stock that Farm Bureau P&C and the companies’ parent, the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, do not already own.

Farm Bureau P&C has agreed to pay $56 per share for the stock.

FBL, Farm Bureau P&C and the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation are all based in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Integrity Marketing LLC has acquired Polcyn Insurance and Financial Services.

Integrity Marketing is a Dallas-based insurance distributor with relationships with 345,000 independent agents. Those agents are on track to make about $7 billion in new sales this year.

Polcyn is an independent marketing organization based in Chandler, Arizona. It has relationships with about 6,000 agents.

It placed $30 million in annual paid premiums in 2020 for products sold to about 78,000 customers. The company is on track to generate about $75 million in annual paid premium this year, according to Integrity Marketing.

Term of the deal were not disclosed, but Grady Polcyn, Polcyn’s president, will become a managing partner with Integrity Marketing.

Simplicity Group has acquired Lenz Financial Group and Sunderland Group.

Simplicity is an insurance distributor based in Summit, New Jersey.

Lenz is a Portland, Oregon-based life, annuity and long-term care insurance broker that was founded in 1988. Sunderland is a Fargo, North Dakota-based life, annuity, LTCI and health insurance marketing organization that was founded in 1998.

Simplicity did not say how much it’s paying for the firms, however, it announced that Brad Sunderland, Derek Sunderland and John Lenz as well as their teams will become Simplicity employees.

Also, Lenz Financial will continue to be an associate member of Insurance Designers of America, Simplicity says.

The Hilb Group LLC has acquired Andrews Benefits LLC.

Hilb is a Richmond, Virginia-based insurance broker. Andrews Benefits is an employee benefits agency based in Farmington, Connecticut.

Terms were not disclosed but Hilb says Christine and Peter Andrews, the owners, and the Andrews Benefits employees will become part of the Hilb New England region.

K Health has joined with Blackstone’s Blackstone Growth fund to form Hydrogen Health LLC, a company that will use artificial intelligence technology from K Health to develop health insurance and health care delivery services.

K Health is the New York-based firm that created the K Health medical information tool for consumers.

The new Hydrogen Health company has financial support from Anthem Inc. —a big, Indianapolis-based health insurer — as well as from Blackstone.

(Image: Blue Planet Studio/Shutterstock.com)