AmeriLife and Integrity Marketing Make Deals

So, have the managers of AmeriLife Group LLC and Integrity Marketing Group LLC gotten bored with using private equity money to acquire other insurance distributors?

Apparently not.

AmeriLife announced Tuesday that it has "acquired an interest" in Pinnacle Financial Services — a Warminster, Pennsylvania-based health, life, annuity and long-term care marketing organization.

Integrity Marketing said it has acquired Equis Financial Inc., an Asheville, North-Carolina-based life and health distributor.

The AmeriLife Deal

AmeriLife is a Clearwater, Florida-based life, health and annuity distributor that has backing from Thomas H. Lee Partners L.P., a private equity firm. The company now has relationships with about 150,000 agents and advisors, up from 140,000 in March.

AmeriLife said it's acquiring the stake in Pinnacle to combine its expertise in distributing Medicare products with Pinnacle's expertise in marketing other types of insurance and financial products.

Pinnacle was founded in 2001. It now has 45 employees, and locations in Nebraska and Nevada as well as in Pennsylvania.

Kevin Shields, Pinnacle's founder and president, and Angela Palo, Pinnacle's executive vice president, will continue to lead Pinnacle from its current offices.

Shields will become a principal and member of the management team for AmeriLife's brokerage distribution channel, AmeriLife said.

The companies are not saying what AmeriLife paid for its stake in Pinnacle, or how big the stake is, but AmeriLife said that, "Shields and Palo will maintain an ongoing profit participation and a significant ownership interest in Pinnacle."

Scott Perry, AmeriLife's chief executive officer, said in a comment on the deal, that was included with the deal announcement, that Pinnacle is a nimble company with a true entrepreneurial approach to the way it does business.

"They are one of the largest and strongest providers of agent training and development, sales technology, marketing and service support that I have witnessed in this industry," Perry said.

The Integrity Marketing Deal

Integrity Marketing is a Dallas-based company with backing from Harvest Partners and relationships with about 270,000 agents, up from 250,000 in April.

It's not saying how much it's paying for Equis, but it said that the partners who have owned Equis — Barry Clarkson, Rob Jones and Bill Martin — and all Equis employees get an ownership stake in Integrity Marketing.

Equis was founded in 2015 and is on track to produce about $100 million in annualized insurance premium revenue this year through the sale of final expense, mortgage protection, living benefits and financial planning products, according to Integrity Marketing.

— Read Integrity Marketing Acquires The Brokerage Resource, on ThinkAdvisor.

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