Jacksonville-based Main Street America Group announced Tuesday that it reached an agreement to establish Austin Mutual Insurance Co. of Minnesota as an affiliate.
The deal is expected to be closed by midyear. Main Street America Group, which moved its headquarters to Jacksonville from New Hampshire a decade ago, is a super-regional property-casualty insurance carrier.
Main Street America has 850 employees in 27 states, including 160 Jacksonville area associates. Austin Mutual has about 100 employees in its suburban Minneapolis headquarters.
The affiliation was approved by the boards of both companies and awaits regulatory approval from the Minnesota Insurance Commissioner’s Office as well as Austin Mutual’s policyholders.
“The Main Street America Group’s long-term strategy to sustain profitable growth is focused on spreading risk and increasing scale through geographic diversification and we will take another step in this direction by establishing an affiliation with Austin Mutual,” said Tom Van Berkel, Main Street America chairman, president and CEO.
Main Street America, created in 1923, operates eight property-casualty insurance carriers.
Main Street America writes about $900 million in premiums through more than 2,000 independent insurance agents and it insures more than 600,000 policyholders in 27 states. The Austin Mutual affiliation expands that to more than 30 states.
Austin Mutual was founded in 1896 and will continue to operate under its name. Chairman, President and CEO Jeffrey Kusch will continue to run the company’s daily operations in Maple Grove, Minn., near Minneapolis, and report to Van Berkel.
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