Premia Holdings Acquires Public Service Insurance Company Out of Rehabilitation in an Innovative Transaction

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Premia Holdings Acquires Public Service Insurance Company Out of Rehabilitation in an Innovative Transaction

HAMILTON, Bermuda–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan 10, 2019–Premia Holdings Ltd. (“Premia”), a leading reinsurance group focused on reinsuring and acquiring companies in runoff, has acquired Public Service Insurance Company (“PSIC”) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Western Select Insurance Company (“WSIC”) from the Director of the Illinois Department of Insurance, acting in her capacity as statutory and court affirmed Rehabilitator for Public Service Insurance Company (“Rehabilitator”).

In this groundbreaking transaction, Premia has acquired certain assets of PSIC (including WSIC) and the direct insurance liabilities of PSIC, while other assets and liabilities were retained in and channeled to the Estate of PSIC, in rehabilitation.

In addition to the Illinois Department of Insurance’s approval, the transaction was approved by the presiding judge of the Chancery Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County Illinois overseeing the Rehabilitation of the PSIC Group. After notice, an objection period, and extensive briefing on the issues, the Court approved the Amended Plan and the Stock Purchase Agreement between Premia Holdings Inc. and the Rehabilitator.

As noted by Bill O’Farrell, Chief Executive Officer of Premia Holdings Ltd., “This was a new and elegant solution for the policyholders of Public Service and the fact that not a single claimant, policyholder, ceding company or reinsurer objected to this transaction is further evidence of the compelling solution in this matter and a real credit to the Illinois Department of Insurance.”

The transaction closed on January 9, 2019. Following closing, Mr. O’Farrell also stated, “I am very pleased that we were able to deliver this solution to the Public Service Estate. It provides better capital support to Public Service’s policyholders and provides Premia a strong operating platform for additional U.S. transactions.”

DLA served as deal counsel to Premia in this matter, while Griffin Financial Group acted as financial advisor to the Director of the Illinois Department of Insurance in her capacity as Rehabilitator of PSIC.

About Premia

Premia Holdings Ltd. is a reinsurance group with operations in Bermuda, the U.S. and Europe that is focused on sourcing, structuring and servicing run-off business. With over $500 million in capital, Premia is well equipped to handle acquisitions and reinsurance transactions in the global P&C run-off market. Premia is sponsored by Arch Capital Group Ltd. and Kelso & Company.

Cautionary Statement

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a “safe harbor” for forward-looking statements. This release or any other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of Premia Holdings Ltd. and its subsidiaries may include forward-looking statements, which reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in or incorporated by reference in this release are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe” or “continue” or their negative or variations or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements involve our current assessment of risks and uncertainties. Actual events and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements.

All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact

Premia Holdings Ltd.
Scott Maries, 441-278-9176
Chief Financial Officer
smaries@premiareltd.com

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