CopperPoint Insurance Company has completed its acquisition of General Indemnity Group (GIG), the surety business of Boston Omaha Corporation, adding a national surety carrier and digital bond placement platforms to the Arizona-based workers’ compensation and commercial insurer.
Boston Omaha said the all-cash deal was completed on the terms agreed in May. The gross sale price was $84.3 million. Boston Omaha kept the roughly 2.67 million shares of Sky Harbour Class A common stock that it had previously contributed to GIG’s insurer, as well as a final cash dividend of about $326,000.
GIG’s businesses include United Casualty & Surety Insurance Company, surety placement platform BOSS Bonds, and SuretyBonds.Market, a proprietary technology platform that GIG developed. Founded in 2015, GIG serves customers, agents, brokers, sub-agents and market partners in all 50 states and Washington, DC.
Kellen Booher, president and chief executive of CopperPoint, said GIG brought experienced surety professionals, national reach and a strong platform for placing bonds.
“Our commitment to that growth is demonstrated by the additional capital we are contributing to further strengthen and expand our surety offerings,” Booher said.
CopperPoint said the commercial and contract surety expertise would strengthen its growing national presence and its construction risk offering. GIG’s Boston office will remain the headquarters of the surety business. Customers and distribution partners will continue to work with the same teams, products and platforms.
Dave Herman, GIG’s president, said the combination would speed up the company’s next phase of growth.
Boston Omaha’s chief executive, Adam Peterson, said CopperPoint’s scale, financial strength and reputation would position the surety business for further growth. Boston Omaha will hold the proceeds as cash, for use in its existing businesses, new investments or its recently announced $30 million share buyback.
For agents and brokers, the deal combines a capital-rich workers’ comp carrier with a technology-led surety platform. That could expand capacity, particularly for small and mid-sized contractors that need contract surety bonds to bid on public and private work.
The digital platforms are an important part of the deal. Small commercial surety bonds, such as license, permit and notary bonds, are high-volume and low-premium, which makes them suited to online placement. Agents who don’t specialize in surety can place these bonds quickly, and BOSS Bonds also supports more complex placements.
The fit with CopperPoint’s construction business is clear. Contractors that buy workers’ comp from CopperPoint often need surety bonds too, and offering both through the same carrier gives agents a stronger bundled offer for construction clients.
