Aloha: Insurance firm officially enters Hawaii

CLEARWATER — Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc., a property and casualty insurance holding company, has established its presence in Hawaii.

The Clearwater-based firm completed its acquisition of Zephyr Acquisition Co. and Zephyr Insurance Co. for $134 million, according to a statement. The price comes in about $14 million higher than the original price, the statement says, because Zephyr reported higher earnings in the second half of 2015 and first quarter of 2016.

“The acquisition of Zephyr is a major step in our diversification process,” says Bruce Lucas, chairman and CEO of Heritage. “Zephyr will add over $60 million of voluntary premium to our book and add strategic diversification to our platform.”

As part of Heritage, Zephyr will remain based in Hawaii, the statement says. The 15-year-old company writes wind-only insurance coverage for personal and commercial residential damage.

Heritage Insurance Holdings wrote more than $590 million of personal and commercial residential premium in 2015. The firm (symbol: HRTG; recent price: $15.98) reported $394.8 million in operating revenue in 2015, according to its financial statement.