Wawanesa expands Ontario, Quebec reach with Everest acquisition
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The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company has acquired the Ontario-based Everest Insurance Company of Canada, in a move set to strengthen its reach outside of Manitoba.
Everest’s portfolio focuses on specialty commercial insurance products, including cyber and aviation insurance, and professional liability services. Taking on its niche offerings will add about $305 million in Wawanesa’s annual commercial lines premiums — an increase of about 30 per cent.
“It takes us into a space that we weren’t playing before,” Wawanesa president and CEO Evan Johnston said Monday.
The 50-year-old Everest is primarily based in Ontario and Quebec — two provinces Wawanesa has long had interest in growing in, said Johnston.
“We are headquartered in Manitoba, but we’re a strong national company of substance,” he said. “We’re not just a Prairie-based business any longer. We’re building a business that happens to be based in Manitoba, but has a national scope.”
A spokesperson for Wawanesa said the company would not be disclosing the financial details of the deal.
In 2016, Wawanesa acquired Western Financial Group and Western Life Assurance from Desjardins Financial Corp. for $775 million, the largest deal in its 130-year history at the time.
“We’ve seen exponential growth over the last seven to 10 years, and I expect that will continue,” Johnston said.
No job losses are expected in the acquisition, he added.
“We are proud of the strong, disciplined franchise our Canadian team has built and are confident that Wawanesa is the right partner to support its next phase of growth,” Everest president and CEO Jim Williamson said in a release.
“We look forward to working closely with Wawanesa to ensure a seamless transition for clients, brokers and colleagues.”
Wawanesa Mutual Insurance was founded in 1896. It now has about 1.9 million policyholders in Canada and about $4 billion in annual revenue.
In 2024, Wawanesa opened its national headquarters in downtown Winnipeg.
Of its 3,200 employees across Canada, more than 1,100 are based in Manitoba at its Winnipeg HQ and in the company’s hometown of Wawanesa.
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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