Queensway sells Canadian operations

Financially troubled specialty insurer Queensway Financial Holdings Ltd. (TSE: QFH) has signed a deal to sell off the last of its assets, with a letter of intent to sell Ontario auto insurer Coachman Insurance Co. to Saskatchewan Government Insurance. At the same time, Queensway announced it will sell its shares of Queensway Investment Council Ltd. to Kevin Charlebois, QICL’s president. Both sales are set to close in May.

Queensway began selling off its assets to pay off debts that have riddled the Canadian-based holding company. Liquidation windup orders were obtained for U.S. subsidiaries Queensway Casualty Insurance Co. and International Indemnity Co., and remaining U.S. operations were recently sold to Argonaut Specialty Group Inc. The subsidiary of Argonaut Insurance Co. will buy North Pointe Financial Services, Hermitage Insurance Company, Consolidated Property & Casualty Insurance Co. and Universal Fire and Casualty Insurance Co. for US$40 million.

The sale of Queensway’s Atlantic Alliance Fidelity and Surety Co. to The Guarantee Company of North America, first announced last November, also recently closed. Added up, the sales represent an informal liquidation strategy intended to pay down Queensway’s debtload. Shares of the company have been on a downward spiral in the last three years, and now sit at less than 5 each.