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Significant Transactions
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2016
Significant Transactions [Abstract]  
Significant Transactions
Significant Transactions

Sale of Sirius Group
On April 18, 2016, White Mountains completed the sale of Sirius Group to CMI for approximately $2.6 billion. $161.8 million of this amount was used to purchase certain assets to be retained by White Mountains out of Sirius Group, including shares of OneBeacon. The amount paid at closing was based on an estimate of Sirius Group’s closing date tangible common shareholder’s equity. The purchase price will be adjusted upon determination of Sirius Group’s actual closing date tangible common shareholder’s equity.
Sirius Group’s results are reported as discontinued operations and assets and liabilities held for sale within White Mountains’s GAAP financial statements. Assets held for sale does not include White Mountains’s investment in OneBeacon and certain other investments were held in the Sirius Group legal entities as of March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015. The value of these investments, net of related tax effects, is approximately $161.8 million and $686.2 million, of which $0 and $528.6 million was Symetra’s common shares, as of March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015.
In connection with the transaction, White Mountains caused Sirius Group to purchase several industry loss warranty contracts to mitigate the potential impact of major events on Sirius Group’s balance sheet pending the close of the sale to CMI (the “ILW Covers”). The cost and potential economic benefit provided by the coverage under the ILW Covers inure to White Mountains. The majority of the contracts expire in May or June 2016. The following summarizes the ILW Covers:
Scope
 
Limit
 
Industry Loss Trigger
United States first event
 
$75.0 million
 
$40.0 billion
United States first event
 
$22.5 million
 
$50.0 billion
United States second event
 
$45.0 million
 
$15.0 billion
Japan first event (1)
 
$25.0 million
 
$12.5 billion
(1) ILW cover expired on March 31, 2016.

Symetra
On February 1, 2016, White Mountains sold its investment in Symetra for proceeds of $658.0 million, or $32.00 per share. (See Note 14 - “Investments in Unconsolidated Affiliates”).

OneBeacon Crop Business
On July 31, 2015, OneBeacon exited its multiple peril crop insurance (“MPCI”) and its related crop-hail business (collectively, “Crop Business”) as its exclusive managing general agency, Climate Crop Insurance Agency (“CCIA”), exited the business through a sale of the agency to an affiliate of AmTrust. As a result of the transaction, OneBeacon and CCIA agreed to an early termination of the existing five-year agreement. In connection with the termination of the agreement, OneBeacon received a payment of $3.0 million. Also related to the transaction, OneBeacon withdrew its 2016 Plan of Operations, which previously authorized it to write MPCI for the 2016 Reinsurance Year, and affiliates of AmTrust agreed to reinsure the Company’s remaining net Crop Business exposure for the 2015 Reinsurance Year under a related 100% quota share reinsurance agreement which, coupled with other transfer and assignment agreements as well as communications with policyholders and agents, had the effect of assumption reinsurance. As a result of this transaction, the Company has no material net exposure related to the Crop Business.

Tranzact
On October 10, 2014, White Mountains acquired majority ownership of Tranzact, a provider of comprehensive direct-to-consumer customer acquisition solutions for leading insurance carriers. White Mountains acquired 63.2% of Tranzact for a purchase price of $177.7 million, representing an enterprise value of $281.2 million. Immediately following the closing, Tranzact completed a recapitalization that allowed for the return of $44.2 million to White Mountains.
As of the acquisition date, White Mountains recognized total assets acquired related to Tranzact of $332.8 million, including $41.4 million of tangible assets, $145.1 million of goodwill, and $146.3 million of other intangible assets, and total liabilities assumed of $108.7 million at their estimated fair values. The liabilities assumed include a contingent consideration liability of $7.4 million associated with a prior acquisition by Tranzact. The contingent consideration is payable if earnings before interest expense, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) of the acquiree exceed amounts defined in the purchase agreement.
On September 1, 2015, Tranzact acquired 100.0% of the outstanding share capital of TruBridge, Inc. and TruBroker, LLC (collectively “TruBridge”) for a purchase price of $31.0 million. The purchase price is subject to an adjustment linked to the amount of marketing expense reimbursements expected to be received in 2016 and 2017. As of the acquisition date, Tranzact recognized total assets acquired of $54.5 million, which includes $18.7 million of goodwill and $28.1 million of other intangible assets, and total liabilities assumed of $4.3 million at their estimated fair values.
On November 6, 2015, Tranzact acquired the domain name CancerInsurance.com for a purchase price of $3.1 million, which is included in other intangible assets. The purchase price included cash of $1.1 million and a liability of $2.0 million for contingent consideration that is payable if EBITDA exceeds amounts defined in the purchase agreement between November 6, 2016 and May 6, 2018. The maximum amount of the contingent consideration is $6.8 million.

MediaAlpha
On March 14, 2014, White Mountains acquired 60% of the outstanding Class A common units of MediaAlpha. MediaAlpha is a California-based advertising technology company that develops programmatic platforms that bring transparency and efficiency to the buying and selling of insurance and other vertical-specific performance media (clicks, calls and leads). MediaAlpha’s exchange technology and sophisticated analytical tools facilitate transparent, real-time transactions between advertisers (buyers of advertising inventory) and publishers (sellers of advertising inventory).  MediaAlpha works with over 200 advertisers and 200 publishers across a number of insurance (auto, motorcycle, home, renter, health, and life) and non-insurance (travel, education) verticals.
White Mountains paid an initial purchase price of $28.1 million. The purchase price was subject to adjustment equal to 62.5% of the 2015 gross profit in excess of the 2013 gross profit. On February 26, 2016, White Mountains paid $7.8 million in settlement of the final purchase adjustment. After adjustment for the estimated contingent purchase price adjustment, White Mountains recognized total assets acquired related to MediaAlpha of $70.1 million, including $18.3 million of goodwill and $38.5 million of other intangible assets, and total liabilities assumed of $10.0 million, reflecting acquisition date fair values.
On January 15, 2016, MediaAlpha acquired certain assets from Oversee.net for a purchase price of $3.9 million. The majority of assets acquired, which are included in other intangible assets, consist of customer relationships, a customer contract, a non-compete agreement from the seller, domain names and technology.

Wobi
On February 19, 2014, White Mountains acquired 54% of the outstanding common shares of Wobi for NIS 14.4 million (approximately $4.1 million based upon the foreign exchange spot rate at the date of acquisition).  During 2014, in addition to the common shares, White Mountains also purchased NIS 31.5 million (approximately $9.0 million based upon the foreign exchange spot rate at the dates of acquisition) of newly-issued convertible preferred shares of Wobi.  Wobi is the only price comparison/aggregation business in Israel, with an insurance carrier panel that represents 85% of the premiums written in the Israeli insurance market. Wobi sells four insurance lines of business, primarily personal auto, and operates as an agency, charging upfront commissions on all insurance policy sales. Wobi also offers a pension products comparison service for Israeli customers and is paid transaction fees when customers use the service to connect to companies that sell those pension products. As of the acquisition date, White Mountains recognized total assets acquired related to Wobi of $13.4 million, including $5.5 million of goodwill and $2.9 million of other intangible assets; and total liabilities assumed of $0.7 million at their estimated fair values.
During 2015, White Mountains purchased NIS 91.4 million (approximately $23.8 million based upon the foreign exchange spot rate at the dates of acquisition) of convertible preferred shares of Wobi. For both periods, March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2016, White Mountains’s ownership share was 96.1% on a fully converted basis.
During 2015, Wobi acquired Tnuva Finansit Ltd. (“Cashboard”) in two transactions for a total of NIS 35.9 million (approximately $8.9 million based upon the foreign exchange spot rate at the dates of acquisition). The acquisition of Cashboard accelerated Wobi’s development of its pension products comparison service. As of the acquisition date, Wobi recognized total assets acquired of $5.5 million, including $0.3 million of goodwill and $2.8 million of other intangible assets; and total liabilities assumed of $1.2 million at their estimated acquisition date fair values.

Star & Shield
On January 31, 2014, White Mountains acquired certain assets and liabilities of Star & Shield Holdings LLC, including SSRM, the attorney-in-fact for SSIE, for a purchase price of $1.8 million.
White Mountains owns $21.0 million of surplus notes issued by SSIE. Principal and interest on the surplus notes are payable to White Mountains only with approval from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.
SSIE is a Florida-domiciled reciprocal insurance exchange providing private passenger auto insurance to the public safety community and their families. SSIE is a variable interest entity (“VIE”). As a result of SSRM’s role as the attorney-in-fact to SSIE and the investment in SSIE’s Surplus Notes, White Mountains is required to consolidate SSIE. At March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, consolidated amounts included total assets of $13.3 million and $14.2 million and total liabilities of $29.4 million and $30.3 million, respectively, of SSIE. The surplus notes purchased by White Mountains and the corresponding liability included in SSIE’s liabilities are eliminated in consolidation. For the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015, SSIE had pre-tax losses of $0.1 million and $1.1 million that were recorded in net loss attributable to non-controlling interests.

Essentia Insurance Company
Effective January 1, 2013, OneBeacon completed the sale of Essentia Insurance Company (“Essentia”), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary which wrote the collector cars and boats business, to Markel Corporation. During the first quarter of 2015, OneBeacon recognized in other revenues a $3.7 million negative adjustment to the pre-tax gain on sale of Essentia in connection with an assessment from the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association payable to Markel Corporation pursuant to the indemnification provisions in the stock purchase agreement governing the sale of Essentia.