As we are going through another Advent and Christmas season, it is easy to get overwhelmed with all the plans that we have taken on to get ready for the holidays. President, Jennifer Tyrwhitt and Vice President, Andrew Tyrwhitt have taken on a new initiative for our office this year. Together with Patricia Tyrwhitt, we are doing fundraising for Feed the Children for our upcoming Mission Trip to Nairobi, Kenya in July 2012. We are going to be setting up children’s libraries, aged JK to University level. There may be as many as 10 libraries that will be provided for. For this season, and for the beginning of 2012, we are collecting donations, 100% of the proceeds go directly to the needy families of Nairobi, Kenya, for feeding programs so that families will send their children to the local schools. These funds will pay for beans and rice. We have sent over 350 invitations to our Company Partners, friends, broker collegues, and family welcoming everyone to participate in this worthy cause. We will keep posting updates, and post some pictures from the Mission trip last year, 2011.

As the Owner of Insurance Portfolio Inc., I had the opportunity at this year’s Insurance Brokers Association Convention in October 2011, and at recent meetings with Management at Intact Insurance. I am now available to comment regarding the transition from AXA Insurance Company to Intact Insurance for our policyholders. I am very confident that the transition will go smoothly. Commencing January 1, 2012 renewals, AXA Insurance policyholders will be converted to Intact Insurance. If there is an issue with a renewal converting to Intact Insurance, we will be notified by Intact in a timely basis, and therefore, give our valued clients options and choice. Intact has acknowledged that AXA’s Mega Liability wordings are broader than that on their liability wordings, and are giving insurance brokers the opportunity to discuss coverage and premiums on which liability wording they would opt for.

Insurance Portfolio is proud to announce that as of October 17, 2011, we are licenced to write Commercial Property & Casualty products for our clients in all 10 Provinces across Canada, coast to coast. This will be of particular interest to Associations whose members have bricks and mortar locations in all Provinces.

Published by Canadian Underwriter 2011-09-26
——————————————————————————–
Intact Financial Corporation (TSX: IFC) has officially completed its $2.6-billion acquisition of AXA Canada, the country’s sixth-largest provider of home, auto and business insurance in the country.
“The completion of this transaction represents a defining milestone in the history of our organization,” IFC CEO Charles Brindamour said. “The benefits of combining the knowledge, competencies and talent of two best-in-class P&C insurers are compelling.
“We will strengthen our product offerings, improve our capabilities to support insurance brokers, expand our distribution platform, reinforce competencies in risk selection and deepen the quality of our management team.”
Louis Gagnon will be president and chief operating officer of Intact Financial Corporation. Jean-François Blais, previously AXA Canada’s president and CEO, will become president of Intact Insurance. Both will report directly to Brindamour.
Immediately upon announcing the completion of its acquisition of AXA Canada, Intact also announced it would be selling AXA Canada’s life insurance business.
AXA Life Insurance, a subsidiary of AXA Canada, was acquired by Intact Financial Corporation as part of the $2.6-billion acquisition of AXA Canada.
Intact announced on Sept. 26 that it has entered into a definitive share purchase agreement to sell AXA Canada’s life insurance business (AXA Life Insurance) to SSQ Life Insurance Company Inc. with the financial support of its majority shareholder, the Fonds de solidarité (FTQ), for $300 million. The transaction is conditional on the receipt of regulatory approvals and is expected to close in early 2012.

Insurance Portfolio Inc. will continue to keep it’s clients up to date. There is no formal date of renewal date changes.

I have been provided a recent update from Intact Insurance regarding their proposed acquisition of the Canadian Property & Casualty business of AXA Insurance Company. The update advises that they are awaiting regulatory approval from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), Autorite des marches financiers (AMF) and the Competition Bureau. They anticipate receiving approval by the end of the year. I have personally spoken to representatives of both Intact Insurance and AXA Insurance and have been reassured that it is business as usual until we hear differently. If you are a current Insurance Portfolio Inc. client, we can assure you that there will be no difficulties with this transition and have represented both Insurers for many years.  We can inform you with confidence regarding the appetite of both markets.  We have been told that if this deal is accepted, Intact Insurance will represent just under 17% of the market share in Canada for P&C insurance. The acquisition does not include the AXA Life Insurance business.

Here is the official press release the industry received regarding the recent intent of Intact Insurance to purchase AXA Insurance Canada.   We will continue to release information as we receive it.  We are contracted with both AXA and Intact Insurance, and will watch the updates closely for our valued clients.   

Intact Financial Corporation (TSX: IFC) has signed a definitive agreement with Paris-based AXA Group for the acquisition of its affiliate AXA Canada – the sixth-largest home, auto and business insurance company in the country – for $2.6 billion in cash.
Intact announced a further performance-based contingent consideration of up to $100 million may also be payable “if certain profitability metrics are met within a period of five years.”
The transaction is expected to close later this year upon the receipt of all required regulatory approvals.
As a result of the transaction, Intact Financial Corporation (IFC) will expand its position in Canada by increasing its direct premiums written by $2 billion to more than $6.5 billion.
“Over the years, AXA Canada and its management team have built a quality organization with a history of excellent performance,” commented Charles Brindamour, president and CEO of Intact Financial. “By combining the resources of these two highly-regarded insurance franchises, the acquisition creates new opportunities for IFC.
“It will strengthen our offerings, notably in business insurance, improve our capabilities to support insurance brokers, reinforce our competencies in risk selection, expand our distribution platform and deepen the quality of our management team.”
According to Jean-François Blais, President and CEO of AXA Canada, “the transaction represents an excellent opportunity for our organization to join a Canadian leader with a history of outstanding performance and values that are similar to those that guide us.”
Annual “synergies” amounting to a minimum of $100 million after-tax are expected from a combination of systems-related cost savings, external loss adjustment expense reductions and operational and claims efficiencies, Intact announced. “Furthermore, Intact Financial is expected to increase its profitability outperformance versus the industry, and to benefit from greater earnings stability resulting from a wider diversification of its activities across the country and business lines.”
IFC says it intends to finance the acquisition of AXA Canada and related transaction expenses using $500 million of its own excess capital, issuing $800 million of equity, net of commissions, through a bought deal subscription receipt offering and by accessing committed senior in unsecured credit facilities fully underwritten by CIBC of $1.3 billion. These are expected to be partly replaced by the issuance of medium term notes and preferred shares.
IFC says it will maintain a strong capital position with an MCT of over 200%.

For one week in May of 2011, Insurance Portfolio reached a new milestone with our visit to Lloyds of London, London, England.   Insurance Portfolio Inc. is currently Open Market Correspondents with Lloyds of London, and we hope to become Coverholders in the near future.   I am pictured with Guy Robinson on the left and James Adley on the right, our UK sponsoring brokers, whom took both myself and Pat Tyrwhitt for broker shadowing.  We were very impressed with the Lloyds’ underwriters, and the style of their face to face business.  I was even more proud of our industry.  The atmosphere, with more than 85 Lloyds syndicates and hundreds of Lloyds brokers represented in the building would be what I would imagine to be the atmoshere in the New York Stock Exchange.   The Lloyd’s building was built in the early 1980′s, and it’s modern architecture makes it’s presence known on the London skyline.  All of the pipes, HVAC, elevators shafts and water mains are on the exterior of the building, so that the building will always be operational.  Across the street in this haven for insurance companies is Aviva Insurance UK, another Insurer with whom we are contracted.   Lloyd’s are not only a market for hard to write risks, but they are a carrier for those businesses that need Professional Liability, Errors & Omissions Liability, Directors & Officers Liability, General Liability and Property Insurance.  Refer to our “Our Partners” page and link to Lloyds of London for more information about Lloyds.   You can also find out about all of our company partners on “Our Partners” page.