QBE Acquires US Based Insurance Company

QBE Insurance (QBE), Australia's top insurance company by premium income has bought a US insurer, NAU Country Insurance for $565 million. The acquisition is expected to add 3-4 percent in earnings per share in the first year. NAU wrote $976 million in 2009 is the third largest writer and manager of Multi-Peril Crop Insurance (MPCI) in the U.S.

QBE has made 75 acquisitions in the past decade in over 47 countries. Frank O'Halloran, the QBE Chief Executive, has said his company is looking at assets in Europe, the United States, Latin America and at home in Australia.

Net tangibles assets is at US$217 million or AUD$232 million. Multi-peril crop insurance is a US government sponsored program to assist farmers with insurance of crops and NAU was the third-largest insurer in that sector with about an 11 per cent market share.