Philadelphia Insurance Companies Acquires Collector Vehicle Business from Ignyte Insurance: Ignyte Insurance

2025 NOV 17 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Mergers & Acquisitions Daily News -- Philadelphia Insurance Companies (“PHLY”) announced it has acquired the Collector Vehicle Division from Ignyte Insurance, a Carlyle backed portfolio company. The transaction, valued at $615 million, brings four of the most respected names in collector vehicle insurance into the PHLY family: American Collectors Insurance, J.C. Taylor Insurance, Condon Skelly and Heacock Classic. The business is headquartered in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey.

With deep roots and decades of leadership in the collector vehicle market, these brands insure a broad range of specialty vehicles from antiques and hot rods to exotics, motorcycles, and classic trucks. Together, they serve hundreds of thousands of policyholders nationwide and bring more than 250 talented employees with significant expertise in this niche specialty segment.

This acquisition further strengthens PHLY’s position as a key player in the collector and specialty vehicle insurance industry. Today’s deal complements PHLY’s longstanding partnership with the James A. Grundy Agency, based in Horsham, PA-a recognized leader in collector vehicle coverage. These iconic brands have a long-standing presence in the greater Philadelphia area, making this partnership a celebration of local leadership in the collector vehicle market.

“We have tremendous respect for what these collector vehicle brands have built and the trust they’ve earned amongst collectors,” said John Glomb, President & CEO of Philadelphia Insurance Companies. “As part of PHLY, they will continue that legacy with the full strength of a leading carrier behind them, combining authenticity and expertise with innovation, superior claims support, and sustainable capacity for the long term.”

“This is an exciting next chapter for these beloved brands,” said Geof McKernan, CEO of Ignyte Insurance. “Our team, originating from NSM Insurance Group, spent years scaling these collector car programs into market leaders. PHLY is a longtime specialty powerhouse with the resources, relationships, and stability to support continued growth and investment. We are thrilled to see this business positioned for enduring success with a carrier that truly understands specialty insurance.”

“We are proud to have partnered with Geof McKernan and the Ignyte team to build a leading specialty insurance distribution platform,” said Jim Burr, Co-Head of Global Financial Services at Carlyle and Jitij Dwivedi, Partner at Carlyle. “The sale of the collector car business marks an important milestone for Ignyte and is a testament to the team’s vision and ability to create long-term value within the MGA ecosystem across various complex lines of business. We look forward to continuing to work with the Ignyte team to grow the company’s remaining direct to consumer brands.”

Ignyte Insurance is a specialty insurance platform focused on building and scaling differentiated brands across high-growth niche markets. Ignyte was formed by the leadership team that previously built NSM Insurance Group into a more than $2 billion specialty powerhouse, led by CEO Geof McKernan, President Bill McKernan, and COO Marc Castellucci. Ignyte is now accelerating its strategy to expand world-class consumer and embedded insurance offerings worldwide.

Troutman Pepper Locke LLP provided transactional and insurance regulatory legal advice to PHLY, along with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP with respect to antitrust and transition services.

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz acted as legal counsel to Carlyle and Ignyte Insurance. Polsinelli acted as legal counsel to Ignyte Insurance, along with Foley & Lardner LLP with respect to compliance and regulatory.
Keywords for this news article include: Ignyte Insurance, Insurance Companies, Mergers and Acquisitions.

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