The Co-operators Group Limited and the Premier Group of Companies today announced that The Co-operators has acquired Premier. Established in 1989, Premier is one of the leading managing underwriting agencies in Canada. Based in Vancouver, Premier has five office locations and more than 100 employees in Canada and the United States. Its extensive product offerings are distributed through 4,000 broker locations. These include marine insurance, professional liability, environmental lines, construction risks, specialty casualty, general property, and specialty personal lines products. The group of companies includes Premier Marine Insurance Managers Group Inc., Premier Canada Assurance Managers Ltd., and Pacific Coast E&S. The Co-operators was advised internally by Jason Harris and externally by Fasken Martineau with a team that includes the following lawyers: Robert McDowell, Kareen Zimmer and Marvin Mikhail (corporate and regulatory), Dierk Ulrich, Sam Li, Marcus Turner, and Charlene Hillier (corporate), Kathleen Hanly and Paul Casuccio (tax), Ralph Nero, Lorene Novakowski and Stephanie Gutierrez (employment & privacy), Peggy McCallum (benefits), Mark Penner (intellectual property), Andrew Alleyne and Michael Shour (information technology) and Sarah Batut (real estate).
