The company hopes to raise about $107.5 million in the offering, according to Securities and Exchange Commission documents, with a portion of the proceeds going to some private shareholders who are selling their stakes in ProCentury.

 

Joseph E Loconti Leads ProCentury IPO

ProCentury Corp., a property and casualty insurer based in Columbus, is preparing an initial public stock offering.

January 06, 2009 -- (MMD Newswire) The company hopes to raise about $107.5 million in the offering, according to Securities and Exchange Commission documents, with a portion of the proceeds going to some private shareholders who are selling their stakes in ProCentury. The remainder of the proceeds would be used to pay down debt and raise capital.

ProCentury sells general liability, commercial property and multi-peril insurance for small and mid-sized companies through its Century Insurance Group subsidiary. It specializes in "hard-to-place risks and risks that admitted insurers specifically refuse to write," say the SEC filings.

Two of ProCentury's units, including one that sells surety bonds to waste management companies and one that underwrites bail bonds, would be spun off as separate private companies.

No date has been set for the IPO and the company has not decided how many shares it would offer. Friedman Billings Ramsey & Company Inc. of Arlington, Va., would underwrite the offering.

Representatives for the company were unavailable for comment.

ProCentury posted a loss of $3 million in the nine months ended Sept. 30, with premiums of $132.4 million, according to SEC documents. It reported a profit of $6.1 million, with premiums of $122.7 million in 2002.

The company said it is poised to expand as it goes into the IPO, due to a "decline in competition from standard line carriers and competitors that have consolidated, stopped writing business or imposed additional underwriting restrictions on their agents," said the SEC documents

The company has about 15 private shareholders with 10,000 Class A shares and 531 Class B shares.

Two of its shareholders would sell their shares as part of the IPO - DCB Financial Corp., the Lewis Center-based parent of Delaware County Bank & Trust Co., and Ohio Valley Banc Corp. of Gallipolis each would sell their 9 percent stakes. The company said it would not profit from the sale of those shares.

ProCentury's largest private shareholder is Stonehenge Opportunity Fund LLC of Columbus, with a 17.6 percent stake, according to the regulatory filing. Colonial Banc Corp. in Ohio and Richmond Mutual Bancorporation Inc. of Indiana, each have 11.5 percent stakes.

ProCentury's largest individual shareholder is Joseph E. Loconti, special counsel to United Nations Insurance Agency Inc., which helps ProCentury issue surety bonds to waste management companies. Charles D. Hamm, the company's chief financial officer and treasurer, owns 9.3 percent of the stock.

Joseph E Loconti Leads ProCentury IPO
Originating Source: Business First of Columbus - by Tony Goins Business First

Media Contact:
Brent Skoda
bmskoda@gmail.com
visit: http://www.josephloconti.com

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