Anthony Bonomo has that great quality that marks entrepreneurs: optimism. He also has that other quality that makes successful ones: focus. Last week, AJB Ventures, Inc. announced that it has completed its acquisition of Administrators for the Professions, Inc. (AFP) and the controlling interest in Professional Medical Administrators, L.L.C. (PMA), from FPIC Insurance Group, Inc. (FPIC). Under the purchase agreement, AJB Ventures paid approximately $40 million. Bonomo owns AJB " not too hard to figure out " and has made one dramatic move, eyes wide open.

AFP, an insurance management company, and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, FPIC Intermediaries, Inc., and Group Data Corporation, provide administrative and claims handling services to Physicians Reciprocal Insurers, the second largest provider of medical professional liability insurance in the State of New York. PMA provides similar services in Pennsylvania. Bonomo has been the president and CEO of AFP for 15 years.

As the CEO in charge of the operations of AFP and PMA " responsible for guiding the successful growth of these companies " capitalizing upon the opportunity to acquire our own insurance management business seemed as logical as it was compelling, he told us.

The board of governors of Physicians Reciprocal Insurers endorsed the action to protect the health and future of the insurance management operations, as well as that of Physicians Reciprocal Insurers. Logical, compelling, get it?

No immediate changes in the management of the acquired companies or its insurance management business are envisioned, but anticipate some growth in the insurance management resources and related facilities.

Gutsy move. As optimistic, at least, as Bonomos hobby: race horses. In this case, hes bought a thoroughbred that will make his personal run for the roses a reality. Best of luck to AJB and the PRI team.

Signature Suit: $30 Million In Agent vs. Company Fight

John Hancock has been hit by attorneys for Sherwood Schwarz asking the New York State Supreme Court to overturn an arbitration award in favor of the insurer that denied Schwarz $30 million in lost commissions. Schwarz is a high-profile insurance agent and former owner of the Toronto Argonauts.

A recent ruling by the American Arbitration Association denied the breach of contract charges against Hancock and Schwarzs claims for $30 million in lost commissions in connection with a high-end insurance product from Hancock that Schwarz was licensed to sell. The proceeding charges Hancock with fraudulently claiming that the policy was both an unintended mistake and unduly risk; within a month of the policy withdrawal, Hancock reintroduced a virtually identical policy.

The Arbitration Association clearly overstepped [its] legal authority in this case, not only making an irrational decision, but also, in effect, making a new contract for the parties, said Sanford F. Young, whose law firm filed the petition on behalf of Schwartz. The decision ignores key provisions of the agreement in a strained effort to find in favor of Hancock, and also overlooked the outcome of a similar case against Hancock, which ruled in favor of the defendant.

One of the top Hancock-affiliated general agents in the nation, Schwarz was successfully creating a market for Hancocks Medallion Gold Universal Life policy with two very attractive features to Schwarzs well-heeled, older clients who have a significant need for the policys increasing death benefit, which will go toward the payment of their estate taxes.

Those features were a premium cost recovery benefit that added the value of the cumulative paid premiums to the total death benefit, and an enhanced secondary no-lapse guaranty that guaranteed that the universal life policy will not lapse and therefore remain in effect for 40 years or until age 100.

In 1999, while Schwarz was in the midst of selling well over 100 of these policies, Hancock unilaterally directed its underwriters, who had already been approving a number of these policies as suitable and acceptable risks, to pull it from the market, making it impossible for Schwarz to complete his pending sales.

For his part, Schwarz did nothing improper, only what he was appointed to do, until he was officially told to stop, Young said. And for his efforts, he and his agency lost millions in commissions, had his reputation and goodwill that he had built over 30 years tarnished, and his agency terminated for no reason other than his daring to sue Hancock to recover for what he worked for and is entitled to under his agency agreement.

Young has requested that the court vacate the award or reverse the finding, requesting a new hearing to determine damages by a new panel of arbitrators to be appointed in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association.