Representatives from BrickStreet Mutual Insurance today announced they have finalized an agreement to acquire the workers’ compensation block of business from Pittsburgh-based HM Insurance Group (HM), a Highmark Company.
This purchase involves workers’ compensation policies and accounts for approximately $120 million in premium. HM’s current workers’ compensation employees will become BrickStreet employees and remain in Pennsylvania, effective August 1.
BrickStreet is a monoline workers’ compensation provider headquartered in Charleston, West Virginia, with offices in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Naperville, Illinois. The company currently writes business in 12 states, including Pennsylvania, as well as the District of Columbia. The purchase will allow BrickStreet to further expand the company’s presence in Pennsylvania and continue to grow as a leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance in the region.
According to BrickStreet’s Chief Executive Officer Greg Burton, the company is committed to providing the same local, personalized service in Pennsylvania. “We are opening a regional office in downtown Pittsburgh and are excited to welcome the workers’ compensation employees from HM. We are dedicated to maintaining the current local service delivery model that agents and policyholders have come to expect. We will continue to use HM’s established agent distribution in Pennsylvania to deliver on the BrickStreet promise of superior solutions and service.”
Burton added that with this purchase, HM’s established agents will be able to take advantage of BrickStreet’s very broad appetite as well as the opportunity to write accounts with regional and national exposures.
“We have a full range of specialized services available to help eliminate workplace injuries and reduce the cost of doing business. BrickStreet is a stable, profitable, competitive company fully equipped to expand in Pennsylvania while maintaining business activities across our footprint. Workers’ compensation is all we do, so we are experts in this line of insurance,” said Burton.
“Our results-based strategy for workers’ compensation aligns the goals of our organization with outcomes that meet our agents’ and policyholders’ business needs. This matches well with the current HM workers’ compensation service model,” added Burton.
“The sale of HM Insurance Group’s workers’ compensation business to BrickStreet is the classic win-win scenario,” said Matt Rhenish, president and chief operating officer at HM Insurance Group. “Our customers will benefit from BrickStreet’s singular focus on workers’ compensation. Our workers’ compensation employees will move over to BrickStreet, bringing with them deep knowledge of the market, ensuring both continuity and a smooth transition. Greg Burton and I are particularly proud that we structured the deal so that these jobs will remain in Pennsylvania. Additionally, this allows us to focus on our national medical stop loss and managed care reinsurance lines.”
