World Insurance Associates has acquired Zoom Insurance, an Irving, Texas agency specializing in convenience stores and gas stations. The deal took effect on July 1, and terms were not disclosed.
Zoom provides insurance to individuals, families, businesses and specialty organizations. Zulfiquar Ali Prasla, the agency’s owner, said joining World would give Zoom more products and services to offer clients.
“The addition of Zoom increases World’s presence in the greater Dallas and Houston areas,” said Rich Eknoian, World’s executive chairman and founder.
Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla provided legal counsel to World, with Foretrust advising. MW Law represented Zoom.
The deal follows a pattern in World’s recent buying. Earlier this month, the Iselin, New Jersey-based broker announced it had acquired Arctic Risk Specialists, a Toms River agency focused on snow and ice management contractors, also effective in the summer. It has also expanded geographically, moving into the Boston market through a deal that took effect in June.
Private equity investment led by Goldman Sachs has valued World at about $3.4 billion in enterprise value, according to earlier Insurance Business coverage.
Convenience stores and gas stations bring together several exposures that make them harder to place than typical retail businesses. These include premises liability and crime risk from late-night trading, liquor liability where stores sell alcohol, pollution exposure from underground fuel storage tanks, and property risks such as fire and damage to fuel canopies.
Storage tank owners usually need to show financial responsibility for leaks under federal and state rules, which many meet through specialist pollution cover. In Texas, a large market for convenience stores, owners often need several policies from different carriers to cover these risks.
For World, Zoom brings a specialist book in a class where knowledge of markets and compliance matters, and where many owners are independent operators who rely heavily on their agent. Bringing that book into a larger platform could give Zoom’s clients access to more carriers and specialist products, particularly for storage tank pollution and crime cover.
For independent agencies in Texas that write convenience store business, the deal adds another well-capitalized competitor. It also reflects a wider trend among acquisitive brokers. After building regional scale, many are now buying niche specialists whose expertise they can use across their wider networks.
