Background
White Mountains Group is a Bermuda-domiciled financial services holding company with a wide range of business interests in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance. The company, which is one of Bermuda’s largest, has its corporate headquarters and its registered office in Hamilton, and its principal executive office in Hanover, New Hampshire.

White Mountains Group has business interests in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance. The company’s wholly-owened subsidiaries include:

• White Mountains Re, one of the largest reinsurance companies in the world, providing global reinsurance;
• One Beacon, which offers specialty and segmented personal and commercial property and casualty primary insurance;
• Folksamerica Reinsurance, which provides multi-line reinsurance on a global basis;
• Sirius International Insurance, which offers property, accident, health, and other short-tailed lines reinsurance;
• Esurance, a direct marketer and underwriter of personal auto insurance;
  AutoOne Insurance; a limited assignment distribution carrier and provider of take-out credits;
• Folksamerica Re Solutions, an evaluator and acquirer of runoff insurance and reinsurance companies;
• White Mountains Underwriting, a provider of reinsurance advisory and risk evaluation services; and
• White Mountains Advisors, the group’s investment management with $34 billion of assets under management.

White Mountains Group also has ownership interests in:

• Bermuda’s Montpelier Re Holdings, of which it owns about 15 percent on a fully converted basis). Montpelier is a provider of global property and casualty reinsurance and insurance products; and
• Symetra Financial, of which White Mountains owns 25 percent on a fully converted basis), which is a provider of life insurance, annuities, retirement plans, and employee benefits.

Unlike many of its competitors, who brand all their companies and products with a single name, White Mountains Group, which has grown through acquisitions and organic development, retains the brand names that have earned its subsidiaries their reputations.

Spotlight – Online car insurance
You may have seen some of the television ads for Esurance, which feature Erin Esurance, a lady spy who is forever getting into scrapes that require her to buy car insurance in a hurry. Esurance’s motto is: “Quote. Buy. Print.” The idea is to take the trouble out of car insurance by using your online smarts.
           
As an online service available to US drivers, Esurance is able to offer all the ease of the Internet, 24/7 customer service, and reliable auto insurance coverage, at competitive car insurance rates.
           
Customers can obtain a quote and view comparison quotes from other auto insurance companies in minutes. If they choose Esurance, it takes just a few minutes more to buy the policy and instantly print a proof of insurance card that satisfies the various legal requirements.
           
Using an online insurer like this means not having to keep much paperwork, since the company keeps it online for you. Esurance also maintains customer service and auto insurance claims centres that are open around the clock, for those who need personal service.
           
The Esurance unit broke even in 2004, ahead of schedule.

Analysis
OneBeacon Insurance Group is White Mountains’ largest operating subsidiary. Headquartered in Boston, OneBeacon provides specialty lines insurance products and a variety of segmented personal lines insurance products (for individuals) and commercial lines insurance products (for businesses). OneBeacon offers its products through a combination of independent agents, regional and national brokers, wholesalers, and captive agents.
           
White Mountains Re subsidiaries cover a range of activities and locations.
With nearly $1 billion of regulatory capital, Folksamerica ranks among the top broker market reinsurance companies.

Folksamerica has grown through a conservative reinsurance strategy, specialised underwriting expertise, a diversified worldwide portfolio, and strong operational discipline. As a recognised lead reinsurance company, clients approach Folksamerica directly and through reinsurance brokers to structure and price reinsurance programmes on a first-call basis. Folksamerica is innovative in new product development for select market segments where market capacity is constrained.
           
White Mountains Re acquired Sirius and its subsidiaries on April 16, 2004. Sirius, the largest reinsurance company in Scandinavia, is Stockholm-based, with offices in Hamburg, Liege, London, Singapore and Zurich.

Sirius was originally formed in 1945 and is today a leading reinsurer in Europe focusing mainly on property and other short-tail lines. The company is a disciplined underwriter, a strength that has allowed it to be profitable through hard and soft markets.

White Mountains Underwriting provides international reinsurance advisory and risk evaluation services to members of the White Mountains Re group and third parties from its offices in Dublin, Ireland and Hamilton, Bermuda.
Specialising in international, short-tail treaty reinsurance business, the company is recognized as a major market leader for catastrophe-level excess of loss reinsurance, both marine and non-marine.

Website
www.whitemountains.com