The Commerce Group Inc. will enter the New York personal lines insurance market next year, buying the holding company for a Hempstead, NY-based property and casualty insurer that wrote $41 million in direct written premiums in 2005. The deal is valued at $52 million.
ACIC Holding Co., a subsidiary of Webster-based Commerce, will acquire SWICO Enterprises LTD, the holding company for State-Wide Insurance Co., licensed in both New York and New Jersey. That company primarily writes private passenger automobile insurance in the state of New York. Commerce said it intends to expand its geographic offerings by entering the New Jersey market as soon as possible.
