Heritage Insurance To Buy Zephyr For $120 Mln.

(RTTNews) - Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc (HRTG) on Tuesday agreed to buy Zephyr Acquisition Co ("ZAC") and its subsidiary, Zephyr Insurance Co ("Zephyr"), a specialty insurance provider in Hawaii. Heritage will pay about $120 million for the acquisition.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Zephyr began operations in 2000 and writes wind-only insurance coverage for personal residential and commercial residential policyholders. For the period ended June 2015, Zephyr's inforce premium was nearly $68 million.

The company believes the addition of Hawaiian-based Zephyr is a great strategic fit for Heritage and expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to earnings per share.

The acquisition will provide Heritage with an immediate presence in Hawaii with Zephyr holding about 30% of the wind-only market share in the state.

This acquisition will further the company's strategic push to diversify business operations and achieve greater synergies in reinsurance while expanding growth opportunities outside of Florida.