Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd has sold its US crop insurance business for $68.4 million and formed a strategic partnership with the buyer.

Under the agreement with American agricultural risk-management firm CGB Diversified Services, Aspen has acquired a 23.2 per cent stake in newly formed Crop Re Services LLC, which will direct the placement of reinsurance for CGB DS.

In exchange for the stake in Crop Re, Aspen sold AG Logic Holdings, otherwise known as AgriLogic, to GGB DS.

Aspen will receive rights to provide quota-share reinsurance capacity, in proportion to its shareholding of Crop Re, on the combined crop insurance portfolios of AgriLogic and CGB DS.

The annual combined gross written premium of AgriLogic and CGB DS was about $1.1 billion for the 2017 crop reinsurance year, making it one of the largest portfolios in the US crop insurance market, Aspen said today.

Chris O’Kane, Aspen’s chief executive officer, said: “Our investment in Crop Re provides Aspen with the opportunity for further growth through access to a much larger and more diversified portfolio of business.

“AgriLogic is an outstanding business and, together with CGB DS, will be able to progress more rapidly to the next stage of its development.”

Rick Pemberton, executive vice-president and chief financial officer for CGB Enterprises, said: “Forming this strategic partnership with Aspen is a natural fit for our crop insurance platform and a true win for both parties.”