Ace’s $28.3 billion bid for Chubb last week is a big deal, but don’t expect it to set off a wave of acquisitions in the property, auto and life insurance arenas the way Obamacare ignited M&A in the health insurance market, said Allstate CEO Tom Wilson. ‘About half of our business is done by mutual companies and so they are not subject to the same pressures that stock companies are so I don’t think this is the starting gun announced in personal lines,’ said Wilson. ‘That said, we bought Esurance three years ago and we are always looking for products that we can buy or sell to our customers.’ The ability to sell insurance over the internet, like at Esurance, is one of the major changes in the industry over the past two decades, according to Wilson. Allstate is celebrating the 20 year anniversary of its spin-off from Sears, Roebuck and Co. Allstate’s total shareholder return of 610% has eclipsed the 460% return of the S&P 500 since the spin-off, as well as the 375% return of the S&P Property-Casualty Index. Shares of the company are down 7% year-to-date and up 12.5% over the past 12 months.
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