It is the alliance of grandeur and venerability: the Quebec mutual insurance company Beneva, the largest of its kind in Canada, announces its intention to merge with the Ontario Gore Mutual, one of the oldest mutual insurance companies in Canada, with its more than 180 years of history.
The new entity, with more than 6,000 employees and $27 billion in assets, would carry the Beneva brand. The latter, born barely five years ago from the merger of SSQ and La Capitale, therefore intends to accelerate its expansion — this time outside Quebec borders.
“Today, we are strongly concentrated in Quebec,” explains Jean-François Chalifoux, CEO of the Quebec mutual. With the arrival of Gore Mutual in our portfolio, we would reduce the weight of Quebec in our activities, which bodes well for facing the climatic events that we anticipate in the coming decades. »
The arrival of Gore Mutual in the fold of Beneva would also, adds Mr. Chalifoux, “have a better balance between our personal insurance and damage insurance portfolios”. At the end of the merger, Beneva would rise to 10e rank in the list of damage insurers in Canada.
The Quebec mutual currently has 5,600 employees compared to around 600 at Gore Mutual. “What is interesting for us,” emphasizes Mr. Chalifoux, “is to go from 400 employees outside Quebec, who are mainly in the greater Toronto area, to 1,000.”
Prelude to westward expansion
Several steps remain to be taken before sealing the alliance of the two insurers. In particular, it will be necessary to obtain the consent of the mutual members of each organization, the Competition Bureau and regulatory authorities, in addition to awaiting the adoption of private bills by the Canadian Senate and the National Assembly of Quebec. We will have to wait until 2026 before seeing the colors of Beneva appear on the territory currently occupied by Gore Mutual, which has offices in Cambridge, its head office, Toronto and Vancouver.
This desire to merge with the venerable Ontario Mutual is a prelude to greater ambitions for westward expansion.
-“We think that there are still a certain number of small and medium-sized players in the mutual sector who would benefit from gaining scale,” indicates Jean-François Chalifoux. Smaller companies must face challenges linked to climate change and economic fluctuations while investing in their growth. When their capital base is smaller, the slightest shake is reflected in their results. »
The CEO of Beneva continues with a list of the many upheavals that have shaken small insurers in recent years. “There have been interest rate fluctuations, financial market fluctuations, cyberattacks. I see it on a daily basis with Beneva, to what extent a larger company is better equipped to weather the many storms, whether technological, economic or climatic. »
Gore Mutual welcomes the possibility of merging with Beneva. “ [Cela] will allow us to accelerate our growth and guarantee the long-term future of our organizations”, underlines the CEO of the Ontario mutual founded in 1839, while ensuring that “Beneva recognizes and respects the importance of [leur] legacy “.
The merger of Beneva and Gore Mutual, the youngest and oldest mutual in the country, also “solidifies mutualism in the country”, rejoices Jean-François Chalifoux.
“It’s an aspiration we had when we created Beneva five years ago. We wanted to ensure the sustainability of the mutualist model in Quebec; now, we are establishing ourselves outside our borders to consolidate insurance mutualism elsewhere in the country. »
