A London-based global intermediary launched last December by AmTrust Financial and Blackstone Credit & Insurance has acquired its second workers’ compensation specialist in the U.S.
ANV Group Holdings Ltd. announced it has completed the acquisition of Associated Specialty Insurance Agency LLC (ASIA), a wholesale commercial insurance agency and wholesale broker headquartered in Springfield, Pennsylvania.
Terms were not disclosed.
ASIA is a family-owned business run by Frank Sorochen, Sr. as chief executive officer, and his wife, Bernadette, and sons Frank Jr., Tim and Bob.
ASIA has more than 30 years of experience placing workers’ compensation coverage. It serves more than for 600 brokers and agents across the country utilizing approximately 20 carrier markets. ASIA places artisan contractor risks, along with auto businesses, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, retail, professional services ad other risks.
The transaction follows ANV’s acquisition of Specialty Comp Insurance Solutions (SCIS), a Dallas-based monoline workers’ compensation managing general agency (MGA) and Hub International subsidiary focused on middle-market employers and tough-to-place risks.
SCIS and ASIA now join with Risico, ANV’s California-based agricultural workers’ compensation MGA, an exclusive partner of AmTrust which the insurer acquired in 2022 and spun off into ANV in 2025.
According to ANV’s most recent announcement, the additions of ASIA and SCIS establish a workers’ compensation platform combining wholesale distribution, risk management, and program underwriting across specialty niches including construction, transportation, manufacturing, hospitality, staffing, agriculture, and other complex, high-hazard industries.
“ASIA’s 30-year track record in workers’ compensation, deep broker relationships, and expertise in artisan contractor risks make it an ideal addition to our growing platform,” said Adam Karkowsky, chairman and chief executive officer of ANV. “With the additions of ASIA and SCIS alongside our existing Risico business, ANV has assembled a workers’ compensation platform with meaningful scale and breadth across wholesale, program, and specialty channels.”
ANV History
In December 2025, AmTrust, a global specialty property/casualty insurer, and Blackstone Credit & Insurance, an asset manager and lender, closed on an agreement under which AmTrust and funds managed by BXCI partnered to spin-off certain of AmTrust’s managing general agencies and fee-based businesses in the U.S., United Kingdom, and Continental Europe, into ANV. AmTrust and ANV have a 10-year capacity agreement through which AmTrust remains the underwriter for the existing books of business offered through the MGAs.
The agreement included seven AmTrust subsidiaries: ANV Specialty, Risico, Collegiate, ANV Nordic, Arc Legal, Qualis, and Abacus. These businesses provide diverse risk and insurance coverages including cyber excess and surplus (E&S), directors and officers (D&O), transaction risk insurance, professional indemnity, legal expense, mortgage and structured credit, warranty, agricultural workers’ compensation, income protection, accident and health (A&H), and residential and commercial niche property.
In March, ANV agreed to acquire acquire Iris Insurance Brokers Ltd. of London, a Lloyd’s wholesale brokerage, along with its affiliates Blink Intermediary Solutions and Vivid Underwriters.
In May, ANV started LaunchPad, an incubator to build new specialty businesses called LaunchPad, an MGA incubator designed to partner with experienced underwriters to build new specialty insurance businesses. Hastings Tax Underwriters, which specializes in tax liability insurance, was the first MGA established through LaunchPad incubator.
Topics
Workers’ Compensation
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