What’s New: In Brief (August 31, 2009)

Markel International has reached an agreement to acquire Elliott Special Risks (ESR).
Markel International is a specialty property and casualty insurer based in London, England.
ESR is based in Canada, and provides insurance underwriting and administrative services on behalf of other insurers.
The acquisition, which values ESR at Cdn$75 million, is expected to close on Oct. 1.
ESR reported gross premium income of Cdn$113 million in 2008.
The acquisition is part of Markel’s plan to develop further its international portfolio of specialist insurance businesses, the company noted in a release.
ESR will continue to trade under its own name as a wholly-owned Markel subsidiary.

Network repairers may represent only about 20% of the shops in Canada, but they account for about 50% of the business, according to Larry Jefferies, executive vice president and co-founder of Carstar.
Speaking at the Canadian Collision Industry Forum meeting in Halifax, Jefferies, a former CCIF chairman, listed a number of noticeable changes in the car collision repair industry in recent years.
In Ontario, for example, while the number of collision repairers seems to be in a slow and steady decline, the networks and multi-store operators are experiencing a growing share of business he said.
Assured Automotive, Carstar, Collision Solutions Network and Fix Auto account for about Cdn$350-million worth of the province’s estimated Cdn$1-billion collision repair volume, he said, citing a meeting report.
And in the past 15 years or so, Auto Pro, Procolor and other networks across the country — including the Boyd Group, Craftsman Collision and Kirmac — have also grown market share, he added.