The residential program market, before it hits the trades.
Issue #3 · August 17, 2026 · covering August 10 to 17
Thoma Bravo agreed to take Accelerant private at an enterprise value above $4 billion. Meanwhile American Integrity posted a record Florida quarter while barely touching Citizens (81 policies), and national homeowners rate approvals slowed to about 1.8%.
American Integrity Insurance Group reported a 63.4% combined ratio for the second quarter on August 11, a record, and assumed just 81 policies from Florida Citizens in the period. Most second-quarter homeowners results landed before this window, so the week's signal came from Kin's two reciprocal exchanges, Thoma Bravo's agreement to take Accelerant private, Amynta's purchase of a reciprocal's underwriter, and an A.M. Best upgrade of a homeowners reciprocal. National homeowners rate approvals, meanwhile, slowed to about 1.8% for 2026 through July, down from about 6.3% for all of 2025.
Thoma Bravo agrees to take Accelerant private at an enterprise value above $4 billion. Thoma Bravo agreed on August 13 to acquire Accelerant at an enterprise value above $4 billion, paying $20.25 per share in cash, a 49% premium to Accelerant's August 12 closing price, with the deal expected to close in the first half of 2027. Accelerant runs the Accelerant Risk Exchange, which connects specialty underwriters with risk-capital providers and placed $1.32 billion of exchange written premium in the first half of 2026, up 23% year over year. Altamont Capital Partners, which holds about 82% of the voting rights, and Accelerant's founders intend to keep equity alongside Thoma Bravo. (Thoma Bravo, Reinsurance News)
→ For MGA operators and PE-VC investors: Accelerant's exchange placed $1.32 billion of premium in six months, and a private-equity buyer just valued that capacity-matching platform at an enterprise value above $4 billion, a direct mark on what a scaled MGA-to-capital marketplace is worth to the program underwriters who run their books across it.
American Integrity posts a record Florida quarter while barely touching Citizens. American Integrity Insurance Group reported record second-quarter net income of $34.1 million, or $1.74 per diluted share, on August 11, with a 63.4% combined ratio, improved from 72.9% a year earlier. Gross premiums written rose 13.8% to $326.6 million, policies in force grew 15.7% to 461,714, in-force premium reached $1.029 billion, and book value per share reached $18.86, up 22.3%. The company sold about 43,000 voluntary new-business policies, up 54% from the prior-year quarter, and assumed just 81 policies from Florida Citizens, saying fewer Citizens policies met its underwriting and profitability standards. (BusinessWire)
→ For state entrants and PE-VC investors: American Integrity wrote 43,000 voluntary Florida policies while taking only 81 out of Citizens, so a reform-era Florida homeowners specialist is now growing in the open market rather than through depopulation, and its 63.4% combined ratio shows the voluntary book underwriting well.
Kin's two reciprocal exchanges clear $25 million on $701 million of in-force premium. Kin Insurance reported second-quarter gross written premium of $218.9 million, up 15%, on August 13, with premium in force reaching $701.1 million, up 23%. Combined adjusted net income across its two managed reciprocal exchanges topped $25 million for the quarter. Kin now operates in 14 states and is attaching auto to its homeowners book, with auto premium reaching $10 million in the quarter. (PR Newswire)
→ For MGA operators and reinsurers/ILS: Kin's two reciprocal exchanges cleared $25 million of combined quarterly net income on $701.1 million of in-force premium, evidence that the managing-attorney-in-fact reciprocal model earns adjusted statutory net income above $25 million a quarter in catastrophe-exposed states, the same structure a residential MGA can stand up instead of buying a carrier.
Amynta buys the attorney-in-fact behind a commercial agribusiness reciprocal exchange. Amynta Group agreed on August 12 to acquire Southern States Underwriters and SSC Insurance Agency, the insurance operations of Southern States Cooperative and a commercial property and casualty managing general underwriter. Southern States Underwriters serves as attorney-in-fact and exclusive distribution partner for the Southern States Insurance Exchange, a reciprocal. Terms were not disclosed, and the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026 subject to regulatory approval. (PR Newswire)
→ For program administrators and PE-VC investors: Amynta is buying the attorney-in-fact that controls the Southern States Insurance Exchange, which hands it the reciprocal's underwriting pen and policyholder distribution in one transaction, a cleaner way to take on a book than chartering a carrier.
A.M. Best upgrades the California Casualty homeowners and auto reciprocal to B+. A.M. Best upgraded the California Casualty Group on August 13, raising the financial strength rating of The California Casualty Indemnity Exchange and its affiliates to B+ (Good) from B (Fair) and the long-term issuer credit ratings to bbb- from bb+. Best cited improved operating results, a stronger capital position, a realignment of the reciprocal's book toward stronger-performing affinity groups, and its exit from underperforming regions. (Insurance Journal)
→ For reinsurers/ILS and fronting carriers: A.M. Best upgraded the California Casualty reciprocal, raising it to B+ (Good), stable outlook; still below the A- many reinsurance and fronting counterparties require.
Presurance narrows to Texas homeowners as commercial lines wind down. Presurance Holdings narrowed to Texas homeowners alone, reporting second-quarter gross written premium of $13.1 million, down 38% year over year, as it winds down commercial lines that had run a combined ratio above 250%. Texas homeowners now accounts for the entire book. (Insurance Business America)
→ For state entrants and program administrators: Presurance's exit from a commercial book that once ran above a 250% combined ratio leaves it a $13.1 million-a-quarter, single-state homeowners writer.
National homeowners rate approvals slow to about 1.8% as states diverge. S&P Global Market Intelligence data reported on August 13 put the effective approved homeowners rate change at about 1.8% for 2026 through July, down from about 6.3% for all of 2025 and about 13.6% for 2024. State dispersion widened: Minnesota's approved increases fell to 1.6% from 17.8%, and Colorado's to 0.8% from 16.6%, while North Carolina still recorded increases. (Insurance Journal)
→ For program administrators and reinsurers/ILS: With approved homeowners increases down to about 1.8% nationally through July, after 13.6% in 2024 and 6.3% in 2025, 2026 margin now depends on risk selection and expense control, and a residential MGA pitching rate-led growth needs a new pitch.
A federal wildfire-mitigation bill stalls while California's residual market keeps swelling. The Fix Our Forests Act (H.R. 471 passed the House in January 2025; Senate version S. 1462) has had no Senate floor vote as of August 10, leaving federal wildfire-mitigation policy unresolved. The California FAIR Plan's insured exposure has grown from $50 billion in 2018 to $458 billion in 2024 and reached $724 billion at year-end 2025, insurers non-renewed more than 2.8 million homeowners policies in fire-prone ZIP codes between 2020 and 2025, and FAIR Plan enrollment rose 43% between September 2024 and December 2025. (Insurance Business America, California Assembly Insurance Committee)
→ For state entrants and reinsurers/ILS: A FAIR Plan carrying $724 billion of exposure and adding 43% more enrollment in fifteen months is both the assessment liability admitted carriers must reserve for and the depopulation premium a new entrant or reciprocal can bid on.
The take
The week's movement in residential property was in who owns and structures the programs, while primary homeowners rate increases kept flattening. S&P Global Market Intelligence put approved homeowners increases at about 1.8% for 2026 through July, down from about 6.3% in 2025, so the extra margin carriers booked from rate is thinning. In the same week, Thoma Bravo agreed to an enterprise value above $4 billion for Accelerant's risk exchange, Amynta bought the attorney-in-fact that runs the Southern States commercial agribusiness reciprocal, Kin's two reciprocal exchanges cleared $25 million of quarterly net income on $701.1 million of in-force premium, and A.M. Best upgraded the California Casualty reciprocal to B+. Buyers are paying up for the distribution and capacity that produce underwriting profit. If you front programs, price the reciprocal and MGU structures now drawing this capital, because Kin shows the model earns adjusted statutory net income above $25 million a quarter, and lock capacity terms before more MGA platforms are taken private the way Accelerant has agreed to be. If you run an MGA, read Accelerant's enterprise value above $4 billion and Amynta's purchase of a reciprocal's pen as the going rate for controlled distribution, then decide whether to sell your book or build the reciprocal yourself. If you allocate capital, American Integrity's 63.4% combined ratio on 43,000 voluntary Florida policies is the clean primary comp and Accelerant's enterprise value above $4 billion is the platform comp, so size the Florida voluntary homeowners book and the MGA-exchange multiple as two separate bets. Two dates set the next read: the Amynta acquisition of Southern States Underwriters is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, and the Thoma Bravo purchase of Accelerant in the first half of 2027, either of which could draw a competing bid or a state review of the reciprocal's change of control.
Corrected October 2026: American Integrity results dated August 11; AM Best upgrade dated August 13 and B+ placed below the A- counterparty floor; Southern States labelled a commercial agribusiness reciprocal; Presurance combined ratio restated, not a payout ratio; Kin figure restated as adjusted statutory net income; Fix Our Forests bill status and FAIR Plan exposure of $724 billion at year-end 2025 added, mitigation-relief claim cut; 2025 rate change not double-digit; Accelerant price stated as enterprise value, deal not yet closed.
First Notice tracks the U.S. residential property program market: new MGA licenses, program launches, rate and form filings, fronting partnerships, and insurance litigation, from public regulatory and news sources. On the web: firstnoticeresearch.com
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