NORTHUMBERLAND, Pa. & BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Keystone Insurers Group, the third largest independent insurance agency network in the U.S., and Bain Capital Credit, LP, a leading global investment specialist, today announced the launch of Keystone Agency Investors (KAI), a platform to acquire and invest in U.S. retail insurance agencies. The platform launches with the objective of deploying at least $500 million of capital over the next several years.

The newly launched business will both provide liquidity and acquisition capital to Keystone Insurers Group’s agencies, as well as acquire non-Keystone agencies. Approaching $4 billion in premium, Keystone Insurers Group’s network of over 270 agencies has grown to span across 17 states since its founding in 1983 and expects to expand to be national in reach within the next five years. KAI will both provide liquidity and acquisition capital to interested Keystone Insurers Group’s agencies, as well as focus on the acquisition of non-Keystone agencies seeking to gain access to the breadth of resources and expertise Keystone provides to its participating partners.

“KAI brings together one of the leading insurance agency networks in the U.S. with one of the leading global investment firms with a long track record of successful investments in financial services businesses,” said KAI Chief Executive Officer David E. Boedker, Sr., who also serves as CEO of Keystone Insurers Group. “The launch of KAI in partnership with Bain Capital Credit is a natural progression for our growing organization and consistent with our history of providing value-added services to our agency partners for over 37 years. We expect that this will accelerate our national expansion as well as put an end to other organizations acquiring our agency partners and removing them from our network.”

“We’re excited to partner with David and his talented team to launch this well-capitalized and differentiated platform,” said Jeff Robinson, a Managing Director at Bain Capital Credit. “We look forward to supporting KAI’s growth and expansion into new markets through our operational capabilities and a continued acquisition strategy.”

In conjunction with the launch of the platform, KAI announced its first two acquisitions, L. Calvin Jones, a leading insurance agency based in Canfield, OH, and Duncan Financial Group, a premier independent insurance and financial services organization based in Irwin, PA. Both businesses have been participating agencies of Keystone Insurers Group for over a decade.

“The KAI platform is well-positioned to attract top quality agencies, as demonstrated by our first two acquisitions, L. Calvin Jones and Duncan Financial,” said incoming KAI Board Chairman Matt Popoli. “We are fortunate to have Jim Klingensmith, CEO of L. Calvin Jones and David Duncan, CEO of Duncan Financial, and their respective teams, become part of the KAI platform and continue to lead their individual businesses.”

About Keystone Agency Investors

Based in Harrisburg, PA, Keystone Agency Investors (KAI) was founded with a simple premise: help our agencies grow and thrive into the future through strategic acquisition and partnership. We are a rapidly growing retail insurance brokerage and wealth advisory firm offering a full suite of property and casualty, employee benefits, risk and claims management services through our partner agencies.

About Keystone Insurers Group

Keystone, a participant and employee owned entity, launched in 1983 with the alignment of four Pennsylvania independent insurance agencies who partnered to pool their resources and expertise. Today, with over 270 independent agency partners in 17 states, Keystone provides its agency participants with a community of like-minded agencies with resources rivaling that of the world’s largest national brokers. This coupled with industry expertise and access to specialized products and services exclusive to Keystone participants, ranks Keystone as number three on Insurance Journal's 2019 list of Top 20 Agency Partnerships. For more information, go to www.keystoneinsgrp.com.

About Bain Capital Credit LP

Bain Capital Credit (www.baincapitalcredit.com) is a leading global credit specialist with approximately $40 billion in assets under management as of April 1, 2020. Bain Capital Credit invests up and down the capital structure and across the spectrum of credit strategies, including leveraged loans, high-yield bonds, distressed debt, private lending, structured products, non-performing loans and equities. Its team of more than 200 professionals creates value through rigorous, independent analysis of thousands of corporate issuers around the world. In addition to credit, Bain Capital invests across asset classes including private equity, public equity, venture capital, and real estate, and leverages the firm’s shared platform to capture opportunities in strategic areas of focus.