Pacific Pioneer Acquires Priority Insurance Underwriters

Pacific Pioneer Insurance Group, the parent company of UCA General Insurance Services and Pacific Excess Insurance, said it has acquired the business of Priority Insurance Underwriters and is looking for additional acquisitions.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Arizona-based Priority Insurance is a wholesale broker offering both admitted and nonadmitted business throughout all the Western and some Midwest states.

The acquisition will broaden the territories of UCA General, a managing general agency that specializes in program business, and Pacific Excess, a wholesaler of both surplus lines and standard business.

Lin W. Lan, chief executive officer of Pacific Pioneer Insurance Group, said the company is looking for additional acquisitions.

Lan, who immigrated from China in 1965 and founded the company in 1980, said "It's the true American dream."

From the start, the company's goal was to providing commercial insurance to the Asian community. She said the company focuses on serving small agencies with two or three employees. "We cater to the Asian market," Lan said.

Many of the company's 130 employees are bilingual, she said.

The company also includes an insurer. Pacific Pioneer is a California-domiciled property/casualty insurance company whose primary business is commercial multiperil produced by its affiliated managing general agency, UCA General Insurance Services, according to BestLink, which provides online access to A.M. Best's Global Insurance & Banking Database. The business written is on behalf of unaffiliated companies and then assumed by Pacific Pioneer.

The company's primary business focus is a low-limit book of commercial multiperil business. This includes preferred and standard restaurant, motel, condominium, apartment, strip mall and other commercial establishment programs. Business is written throughout California, with a concentration in suburban Asian communities. All commercial multiperil business is produced by UCA General, according to BestLink.

Lan said she often gives talks to business owners on insurance issues. For instance, she'll encourage them to buy health insurance for their employees, because it will reduce workers' compensation claims. She'll also advise them on employment practices liability insurance.

"In China, if you want to fire someone, you give them a slap and say get out. You can't do that here," Lan said.

Lan credits the success of the company to her employees, many of whom have been with the company for more than 20 years.

Pacific Pioneer Insurance Co. currently has a Best's Financial Strength Rating of B+ (Good).

(By Meg Green, senior associate editor, BestWeek: Meg.Green@ambest.com)