Atlantic Specialty Lines Purchases Assets of ESL

Atlantic Specialty Lines of Pennsylvania LLC, a subsidiary of Atlantic Specialty Lines Inc. has acquired the business assets of ESL Inc., effective May 1, 2008.

ESL, which was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Penn National Insurance, operated as a wholesale insurance brokerage. Atlantic Specialty Lines operates as a wholesale brokerage, specializing in excess and surplus lines of insurance for retail agents in most of the United States.

ESL was established to provide non-standard products to compliment the portfolio of Penn National Insurance’s standard products. Penn National Insurance "encourages its agents to continue placing business with Atlantic Specialty Lines of Pennsylvania," according to the company's May 2, 2008 news release about the sale.

Martin Kanipe, executive vice president of ASL said, "We are excited to add the ESL staff members to our ASL-PA operation. The combination of ASL markets and ESL's markets creates an outstanding opportunity for agents to meet their non-standard excess and surplus and professional liability market needs. ESL's long-standing association with Penn National Insurance and their producers brings a tremendous asset to our organization."

ASL will be maintaining an office in Harrisburg, where ESL was located, and is retaining most of the ESL staff members, including George Ludwig, who served as president of ESL Inc., for the past several years.

They will be joining Dianne Sprague and the existing ASL-PA staff. The staff can be reached at 800-388-4375.