Palomar Holdings, a specialty property insurance provider backed by Genstar Capital, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with a placeholder amount of $50 million.
The company, which is based in La Jolla, California, submitted preliminary documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday to pursue the IPO.
It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol PLMR, although it did not provide details on how many shares would be sold.
Palomar explained that the IPO would allow it to increase its capitalisation and financial flexibility through access to the public equity markets.
It also intends to use the net proceeds from the transaction to make a contribution of between $25.0 million and $40.0 million to the capital of its insurance subsidiary, Palomar Specialty Insurance Company.
It does not plan to contribute capital to any other subsidiaries, but will use $20.5 million to repay outstanding Floating Rate Senior Secured Notes.
Genstar Capital will remain the majority shareholder following the IPO and will be able to control the outcome of all matters submitted to a vote of Palomar’s stockholders, including the election of directors, amendments to its certificate of incorporation, and mergers or other business combinations.
Palomar does not currently intend to declare or pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.
The insurer also revealed that Barclays, J.P. Morgan and Keefe Bruyette Woods are the joint bookrunners on the deal, but did not disclose any pricing terms.
Palomar generated gross written premiums of $154.9 million in 2018 (versus $120.2 million in 2017), and net written premiums of $71.9 million ($73.3 million in 2017). Its net income was $18.2 million, compared with $3.8 million in 2017.
Founded in 2014, Palomar focuses on markets that it believes are underserved by other insurance companies, covering perils such as earthquake, wind and flood.
