Prominent Sarasota insurance firm sold

SARASOTA — Bolt Insurance, a technology-focused insurance firm from Connecticut with a concentration on small business clients, acquired Ludwig-Walpole Co., one of the oldest and largest insurance firms in the Sarasota-Bradenton market.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Ludwig-Walpole, founded in 1933, has about 15 employees. The firm's employees will stay with the company after the merger, says a Bolt executive. Ludwig-Walpole President Robert Ludwig, in a statement, says the “combination matches our experienced and talented employees with Bolt's industry-leading technology.”

Bolt Florida Regional Director Robert Rizzo says the transaction, the firm's third in the Gulf Coast in two years, is a key step toward meeting lofty growth goals in the state. Rizzo calls the Ludwigs the first family of the local insurance community. “They had many suitors,” Rizzo told the Business Observer in an interview. “We are humbled by the opportunity to work with the Ludwig family. You can't do business in Sarasota and not know who the Ludwigs are.”