Officials at American Wholesale Insurance Group, Inc. (American Wholesale), a Charlotte-based wholesale insurance distribution holding company, announced on September 30, 2002, that the company has officially completed the acquisition of Woodus K. Humphrey & Company, Inc. of Shreveport, LA. Woodus K. Humphrey & Company, Inc., is the leading managing general agency specializing in providing insurance solutions to the lumber and woodworking industries.

The announcement comes less than one month after Business Insurance, a top national business and insurance trade publication, ranked American Wholesale the third largest insurance wholesale broker in the country. The combined operating companies, along with the addition of Woodus K. Humphrey, produce wholesale premium volume in excess of $750 million. American Wholesale is currently the largest independently owned wholesale brokerage organization in the country.

According to President & CEO M. Steve DeCarlo, an acquisition of this caliber is a perfect fit for American Wholesale. “Woodus Humphrey and his management team bring many years of underwriting and engineering expertise specifically in the woodworking industry,” DeCarlo said. “Woodus’ group not only contributes this special expertise, but also, clearly demonstrated business results that have been revered by their top national insurance carrier partners for years. That speaks volumes to us,” added DeCarlo.

“We are very excited about joining American Wholesale. The move not only gives our management group and employees, who will remain unchanged, a clear view of the future of our operation, but, most importantly, it will give us a chance to develop additional relationships to more effectively serve the brokers we work with in our woodworking specialty field,” said Woodus K. Humphrey, CEO of Woodus K. Humphrey & Company, Inc.

American Wholesale (www.amwins.com) is an insurance organization solely dedicated to serving retail agents and brokers via its wholesale brokerage, underwriting and premium financing capabilities. The company offers a complete catalogue of wholesale insurance products and programs to Independent agents and brokers via its eighteen offices nationwide.