National General Holdings Agree To Buy Direct General For About $165 Million

National General Holdings Corp.

disclosed Friday that it reach an agreement to buy Elara Holdings, Inc., the parent firm of Direct General Corporation, for about $165 million. The company expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of the current year subject to regulatory approvals and customary conditions. National General CEO, Barry Karfunkel, said: "We are excited about the addition of Direct General to our growing personal lines portfolio. This acquisition adds a company that is well known as a direct marketing non-standard auto leader in the Southeastern U.S. and has a track record of strong growth which will enable us to expand our product distribution channel." He added, "We expect to realize substantial benefits from transitioning Direct General to our state-of-the-art technology system, advanced pricing analytics, comprehensive reinsurance structure, and as such we expect the transaction will be immediately accretive to earnings. We look forward to welcoming the Direct General team and providing them with the broad resources and capabilities that National General has to offer." For National General Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as their financial advisor while Willis Capital Markets & Advisory and TigerRisk Capital Markets & Advisory acted as financial advisors for Direct General Corporation in connection with the transaction. On Friday, the stock traded down by 3.42 percent.