Assurant, Inc. (NYSE: AIZ), a global provider of risk management solutions has announced that it paid $125 million in cash for Green Tree Insurance Agency, with potential earn outs of up to $25 million, based on future performance.

Assurant is acquiring Green Tree from a wholly owned subsidiary of Walter Investment Management Corporation.

The Green Tree is a seller of housing protection products, including voluntary homeowners’ and manufactured housing policies, in addition to other insurance products. It has offices in St. Paul, Minnesota and Rapid City, South Dakota.

According to Insurance Journal, Assurant currently earns underwriting profits on the majority of Green Tree’s voluntary homeowners’ and manufactured housing insurance sales.

With the acquisition, Assurant will retain its existing book of voluntary insurance for home mortgage borrowers whose loans are serviced by Walter’s subsidiary, Ditech Financial Services, and will have the opportunity to write additional voluntary business for Ditech borrowers.

“We are building upon the strength of our 30-year history with Green Tree,” said Alan Colberg, Assurant president and CEO.

 

 

 

“More importantly, this acquisition enables Assurant to further its strategic focus in the housing market by expanding our voluntary offerings, through this distribution channel, to new and existing clients.”

Per the Tampa Bay Times, the Green Tree sale comes at a critical time for the long troubled Walter Investment Management Corporation, as shares of the company tumbled 67 percent in 2016 to make it the worst-performing local stock of the year.

“We are pleased to have executed the stock purchase agreement with Assurant relating to the sale of our insurance business. This transaction is expected to reduce the complexity of our business operations and allow us to better focus on our process efficiency efforts to improve the performance of our core servicing and originations businesses,” said Walter Investment Management President and CEO Anthony N. Renzi. “We look forward to continuing our relationship with Assurant.” ##

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Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.