CRA insurance provider bought by Wawanesa
Patrick Flannery
NewsTrimont Financial – a subsidiary of The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company – has agreed to acquire Western Financial Group and Western Life Assurance from Desjardins Financial Corporation for a total transaction value of about $775 million. Western Financial administers the Canadian Rental Association's protected self-insurance program. The transaction includes Western’s primary business units: its brokerage network, Western Financial Group Insurance Solutions, Coast Capital Insurance Services and Western Life Assurance. It is subject to standard closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017.
“Wawanesa has a long history of supporting the success of insurance brokers, and this investment reflects our continued commitment to the broker channel,” said Wawanesa’s president and CEO, Jeff Goy. “Today’s announcement will ensure that Western Financial Group remains a trusted, familiar local broker in communities across western Canada.”
Goy noted that Western’s brokerage network will continue to offer customers a broad range of products from a wide range of insurers and will continue to operate under the Western Financial Group name. There are no plans to close or relocate any of Western’s existing brokerage locations. All of the Western companies will continue their respective regular operations.
“Western is a great organization with a great team behind it. We want to thank them for their commitment and continued hard work. We are also pleased that ownership of Western will remain in the cooperative-mutual sector, given Wawanesa’s shared values and customer focus,” said Denis Berthiaume, Desjardins Group’s COO. “Within Desjardins, we remain committed to our other distribution networks and partnerships across the country and focused on growth with them,” he added.
With over 1,700 employees, Western provides personal and business insurance services through 157 office locations and affiliates in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec.
For more information
westernfinancialgroup.ca
CRA insurance
Print this page
Leave a Reply