New California P/C Brokerage Firm Formed

Trident IV L.P., a private equity fund managed by Stone Point Capital, announced that it, along with John G. Hahn and Dan R. Francis, have committed to invest up to $100 million to form Edgewood Partners Insurance Center, a new retail property/casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage firm in California.

The firm will have an structure that provides key employees, producers, acquired principals and executive management the opportunity to hold significant equity ownership stakes in the firm, the investors said.

Edgewood Partners will be led in partnership by John G. Hahn and Dan R. Francis, who have more than 50 years of combined industry experience. Hahn built Tri-City Brokerage, an independent wholesale brokers before its sale to BISYS, and will leave his current position as president of BISYS Commercial Insurance Services on June 30, 2007. Francis spent the past 10 years in several key executive positions, including most recently as CEO of ABD Insurance Services Inc., a subsidiary of Greater Bay Bank Corp.

Edgewood Partners expects to close its initial platform acquisition by June 30 and begin operations throughout California immediately thereafter. Charles A. Davis, the CEO of Stone Point Capital, said, “We believe there is a unique opportunity in the brokerage space in California to build a retail operation that aligns the interests of shareholders with those of producers and management.”

Stone Point Capital is a global private equity firm that manages the Trident Funds and has raised more than $8 billion in committed capital to make investments in the global insurance and financial services industries.

Source: Stone Point