West Des Moines, Iowa, April 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GuideOne reorganized its corporate structure to a mutual holding company, effective April 1, 2021. The conversion to GuideOne Mutual Holding Company (GuideOne Holdco) allows the company to generate greater operating efficiencies and flexibility, which will support its continuously growing business in the markets it serves. GuideOne’s board of directors, policyholders and the Iowa Insurance Department each approved of the restructuring.
“The conversion to a mutual holding company is a result of GuideOne’s growth over the last few years,” said Jessica Snyder, President and Chief Executive Officer at GuideOne. “We have doubled the size of our business, and restructuring as a mutual holding company will allow us to raise and use capital more efficiently to fit our company’s and policyholders’ growing needs.”
When Snyder joined GuideOne in 2017, she brought a strategic vision for transforming it into a multiple product and distribution company. GuideOne profitably grew and diversified its business in the last three years by adding specialized niche business, including Programs and Specialty insurance. Snyder said that reorganizing as a mutual holding company “reinforces GuideOne’s commitment to the long-term best interests of its policyholders and dedication to the mutual space.”
“By becoming a mutual holding company, GuideOne can better respond to future needs and opportunities by providing increased financial flexibility with the ability, for the first time, to raise funds through the issuance of traditional debt,” Snyder said.
GuideOne’s new mutual holding company structure will not change “how the company does business or who it does business with,” said Andrew Noga, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer at GuideOne. Policy terms and coverages, premiums, operations and employees of GuideOne are not impacted by the reorganization. Policyholders of GuideOne Mutual Insurance Company and GuideOne Specialty Mutual Insurance Company became members of GuideOne Holdco and enjoy the same contract rights they had prior to the change.
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About Mutual Holding Companies
A mutual insurance holding company is a legal entity organized under state law to serve as the parent company, or the controlling shareholder, of an insurance company that has converted from a mutual company to a stock company.
State laws authorizing mutual insurance holding company reorganizations were first adopted to enable a mutual insurance company to address certain disadvantages of the mutual insurance company organizational form by converting to a stock company, while maintaining policyholder ownership and control of the enterprise. Mutual insurance holding companies were first authorized in Iowa in 1995, and a number of Iowa mutual insurance companies have used this law to change to a mutual insurance holding company structure.
About GuideOne
GuideOne Insurance was founded in 1947 with a commitment to social responsibility. That tradition continues today, as the company proudly protects the people who strengthen our communities. GuideOne Insurance serves churches, nonprofit organizations, small businesses and educational institutions. We provide commercial property and liability, business owner’s policies (BOP), workers’ compensation, commercial auto, and many other liability needs. Through GuideOne National, our Specialty E&S carrier, we serve three industry verticals: infrastructure, construction and energy.
Rated “A-” (Excellent) by industry analyst A.M. Best, GuideOne is licensed in all 50 states through a network of distribution partners who serve more than 51,000 members. GuideOne’s corporate headquarters are located in West Des Moines, Iowa.