Surrey-based Westland Insurance Group Ltd. remains hungry for acquistions after purchasing Vancouver Island’s Peninsula & Bay Lands insurance agency for an undisclosed amount May 3.
The 30-year-old insurance company has made more than 50 acquisitions since it was founded in 1980, Westland CFO Philip Tapley told Business in Vancouver.
Many agencies were then merged leaving Westland to manage 29 offices.
Some of these acquisitions include buying:
- five insurance outlets from the former Surrey Metro Credit Union in 2005;
- two insurance agencies from North Vancouver’s Vancouver General Insurance in 2008; and
- Thunderbird Insurance Service Ltd. in Port Alberni in May.
Peninsula & Bay Lands operates two locations on the west coast of Vancouver Island: one in Tofino and the other in Ucluelet.
“This was a huge opportunity,” said Tapley. “Both of Peninsula’s two insurance offices have drivers’ services, which is a special appointment given by ICBC that allows you to issue drivers’ licenses and give renewals.”
Tapley said insurance licenses in general are a good investment because ICBC has a moratorium against issuing new licenses.
“We just found that these insurance agencies are great little businesses because basically everyone in the community has to come in and do their drivers’ services with you. That ties in well with your auto insurance as well as cross selling to home insurance.”
Tapley then hinted that Westland would have another announcement later this week.
By Glen Korstrom