GuideOne Mutual Insurance has received approval from Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen to reorganize from a domestic mutual insurance company to a stock insurance company. The reorganization, which will be conducted through two separate transactions, is expected to enable the West Des Moines-based insurer to increase its access to growth capital and to be better situated to acquire companies in the future as well as generate greater operating efficiencies. In an order dated March 29, the insurance commission found that the agreement and reorganization plan properly protects the interests of both GuideOne Specialty’s policyholders and GuideOne Mutual’s policyholders as required by state law, and that there are no reasonable objections to the plan. Under the reorganization, effective April 1, policyholders of GuideOne Mutual Insurance Co. and GuideOne Specialty Mutual Insurance Co. became members of GuideOne Holdco and have the same contract rights they had prior to the change. “The conversion to a mutual holding company is a result of GuideOne’s growth over the last few years,” said Jessica Snyder, president and CEO of GuideOne. “We have doubled the size of our business, and restructuring as a mutual holding company will allow us to raise and use capital more efficiently to fit our company’s and policyholders’ growing needs.”  Policy terms and coverages, premiums, operations and employees of GuideOne are not affected by the reorganization. Read a Business Record article about the reorganization plan.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a statement from GuideOne.