Fairfax Financial and Independence Pet Group Receive All Regulatory Approvals To Complete Sale of Global Pet Insurance Operations
October 13 2022 - 5:10PM
Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (“Fairfax”) (TSX: FFH and FFH.U)
today announced that all regulatory approvals required to complete
the previously announced transaction in which Independence Pet
Group and certain of its affiliates, which are majority owned by
JAB Holding Company, will acquire all of Fairfax’s interests in the
Crum & Forster Pet Insurance Group™ and Pethealth Inc.,
including all of their worldwide operations, have been received.
The transaction is now scheduled to close on October 31, 2022.
About Fairfax
Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited is a holding
company which, through its subsidiaries, is primarily engaged in
property and casualty insurance and reinsurance and the associated
investment management.
About Crum & Forster
Pet
For over 20 years, Crum & Forster Pet
Insurance Group™ has been committed to helping people get access to
reliable and affordable pet insurance plans. From routine exams to
unexpected illnesses, our plans are available to pet parents of
cats and dogs. Plans are customizable based on individual needs,
including coverage levels, policy limits, and deductibles. We pride
ourselves on pioneering new advancements in the industry. Crum
& Forster Pet Insurance Group is founding member of the North
American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA). Pethealth Inc.
offers pet services through two brands 24Pet and VioVet. 24Pet are
the experts in lost pet solutions, pet adoptions, animal welfare
and shelter support. A family of platforms, services, products, and
people, obsessed with pets. From connecting them with loving
families, to protecting and helping keep them happy, healthy, and
home. VioVet is a UK registered veterinary online pet retailer that
offers a variety of pet and horse supplies, including prescription
and non-prescription medications, supplements, food, toys and
more.
About Independence Pet
Group
Independence Pet Group is an integrated,
full-stack pet insurance platform indirectly majority owned by JAB
Holding Company. It offers a comprehensive range of underwriting
options, turnkey partner solutions, and consumer-facing insurance
products through its wholly own subsidiary, Independence American
Insurance Company, a leading provider of underwriting services to
the pet insurance sector with licenses in all 50 states. It also is
a majority shareholder in Pet Partners, Inc., which distributes and
administers through world-class pet insurance brands AKC Pet
Insurance and its worksite brand, PetPartners. PetPartners in turn
owns Figo, a leading direct-to-consumer brand which utilizes a
highly engaging and mobile friendly Pet Cloud that allows consumers
to manage their pet's healthcare, socially engage with fellow pet
parents, and easily discover and locate services within the pet
ecosystem, and Third Party Pet, providing business services to
breeders, pet retailers and their customers ranging from live pet
inventory management software, scheduling and facilitating
adoptions, micro-chip and registration services and customized pet
products.
Media Contacts
Crum & Forster Pet: Hallie Harenski, Head of
Corporate Communications at mediainquiries@cfins.com
Fairfax: John Varnell, Vice President, Corporate
Development at (416) 367-4941
Independence Pet Group: Amanda Trcka, Marketing
Communications and PR Manager at (203) 231-9975 or
atrcka@petpartners.com and Tom Johnson or Jake Yanulis, Abernathy
MacGregor, at tbj@abmac.com or jjy@abmac.com
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements contained herein may
constitute forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the
“safe harbour” provisions of the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities
laws. Particularly, statements about the transaction described
above and the terms thereof (including relating to the terms,
conditions and the timing for closing of the proposed transaction
described above) are forward-looking statements. Such
forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results,
performance or achievements of Fairfax to be materially different
from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or
implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include,
but are not limited to: failure to complete the transaction
described above which is subject to customary conditions; reduction
in net earnings if our loss reserves are insufficient; underwriting
losses on the risks we insure that are higher or lower than
expected; the occurrence of catastrophic events with a frequency or
severity exceeding our estimates; changes in market variables,
including interest rates, foreign exchange rates, equity prices and
credit spreads, which could negatively affect our investment
portfolio; risks associated with the global pandemic caused by a
novel strain of coronavirus (“COVID-19”), and the related global
reduction in commerce and substantial downturns in stock markets
worldwide; the cycles of the insurance market and general economic
conditions, which can substantially influence our and our
competitors’ premium rates and capacity to write new business;
insufficient reserves for asbestos, environmental and other latent
claims; exposure to credit risk in the event our reinsurers fail to
make payments to us under our reinsurance arrangements; exposure to
credit risk in the event our insureds, insurance producers or
reinsurance intermediaries fail to remit premiums that are owed to
us or failure by our insureds to reimburse us for deductibles that
are paid by us on their behalf; our inability to maintain our long
term debt ratings, the inability of our subsidiaries to maintain
financial or claims paying ability ratings and the impact of a
downgrade of such ratings on derivative transactions that we or our
subsidiaries have entered into; risks associated with implementing
our business strategies; the timing of claims payments being sooner
or the receipt of reinsurance recoverables being later than
anticipated by us; risks associated with any use we may make of
derivative instruments; the failure of any hedging methods we may
employ to achieve their desired risk management objective; a
decrease in the level of demand for insurance or reinsurance
products, or increased competition in the insurance industry; the
impact of emerging claim and coverage issues or the failure of any
of the loss limitation methods we employ; our inability to access
cash of our subsidiaries; our inability to obtain required levels
of capital on favourable terms, if at all; the loss of key
employees; our inability to obtain reinsurance coverage in
sufficient amounts, at reasonable prices or on terms that
adequately protect us; the passage of legislation subjecting our
businesses to additional adverse requirements, supervision or
regulation, including additional tax regulation, in the United
States, Canada or other jurisdictions in which we operate; risks
associated with government investigations of, and litigation and
negative publicity related to, insurance industry practice or any
other conduct; risks associated with political and other
developments in foreign jurisdictions in which we operate; risks
associated with legal or regulatory proceedings or significant
litigation; failures or security breaches of our computer and data
processing systems; the influence exercisable by our significant
shareholder; adverse fluctuations in foreign currency exchange
rates; our dependence on independent brokers over whom we exercise
little control; impairment of the carrying value of our goodwill,
indefinite-lived intangible assets or investments in associates;
our failure to realize deferred income tax assets; technological or
other change which adversely impacts demand, or the premiums
payable, for the insurance coverages we offer; disruptions of our
information technology systems; assessments and shared market
mechanisms which may adversely affect our insurance subsidiaries;
adverse consequences to our business, our investments and our
personnel resulting from or related to the COVID-19 pandemic; and
the failure to complete or realize the anticipated benefits of the
transaction described above. Additional risks and uncertainties are
described in Fairfax’s most recently issued Annual Report which is
available at www.fairfax.ca and in Fairfax’s Base Shelf Prospectus
(under “Risk Factors”) filed with the securities regulatory
authorities in Canada, which is available on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com. Fairfax disclaims any intention or obligation to
update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as
required by applicable securities law.
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