Max America Now Licensed to Write Marine Insurance in All 50 States

 

Friday, Jul 17,2009, 12:17:32 PM   Click:

Max America Insurance Co. is now able to write the inland and ocean marine insurance in the 50 States eligible to become an insurer in California, Max Capital Group Ltd. said.

Max America is a subsidiary of Richmond, Va.-Max Specialty Insurance Co., which is licensed as an admitted insurer in Delaware and approved to write business on a nonadmitted basis in 49 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

"The addition of the state of California provides a 50-state franchise Max for products of the sea, inland waters and the ocean," Stephen J. Vaccaro Jr., President and CEO of Max specialist, said in a statement.

Max Specialty is the U.S. excess and surplus lines subsidiary of Max Capital Group, which is based in Bermuda. Last month, Max Capital announced that Max Specialty would expand into underwriting professional liability business (BestWire, June 25, 2009).

In March, Max Capital announced plans to merge with IPC Holdings to form the sixth-largest global underwriter in Bermuda. The combined company would have been named Max Capital Group and would have had $3 billion in shareholder equity and total assets of about $10 billion (BestWire, March 3, 2009). However, Validus Holdings entered the picture after that announcement, offering a counteroffer it said would be better for IPC shareholders. IPC shareholders voted down the Max merger proposal June 12, and Max responded by withdrawing its bid for the company (BestWire, June 12, 2009).


Max Specialty and Max America each currently have a Best's Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent).

Max Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MXGL) shares were $18.50 in afternoon trading on July 15, up 0.49% from the previous close.

(By Alyn Ackermann, senior associate editor, BestWeek: Alyn.Ackermann@ambest.com)