Offenhauser announces merger

Company to join Fort Smith insurance group; officials say no change for customers

TEXARKANA, Texas — One of Texarkana’s oldest businesses, Offenhauser & Co., merged with Fort Smith, Ark.-based insurance agency Cross Pointe Insurance Advisors on Nov. 1, said Offenhauser’s top official Friday.

Offenhauser President Don Morriss said the local insurance agency’s customers should see no changes at its locations. The agency will retain its name, management and employees, the company president said, as Offenhauser plans to continue what it’s done for more than a century.

“We have merged. We are sharing some ownership in each other,” Morriss said, adding, “They’re going to pretty much let us manage our insurance agency and our insurance operation for this area just like we’ve been doing for 137 years.”

He said there will be no changes for Offenhauser with personnel and no changes in the name or services provided.

“Other than we hope to maybe add some things. I’m not sure what that’s going to be yet, but we’ll be part of a larger organization so we may have some opportunities and some more resources at our disposal that we don’t currently have,” Morriss said. “That promises to be good for us and for our clients.”

Insurance provided by Offenhauser & Co. includes home, auto and life; business insurance; risk management services; employee benefits such as group health

insurance; and an array of bonds. Locations include Texarkana, Atlanta, Mount Pleasant and San Antonio. Offenhauser has also begun doing business in Austin because of growth there, Morriss said.

Established in 1882, Offenhauser for decades called the intersection of Third Street and State Line Avenue home inside the uniquely-shaped brick building that now houses the Museum of Regional History. The firm shared space with the Texarkana Board of Trade there and grew to become a regional provider of insurance needs.

Offenhauser also has a long history of community involvement, its officials leading United Way campaigns, serving as board chairmen for the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce and winning the C.E. Palmer Award, a civic service honor.

Likewise, Cross Pointe Insurance Advisors have longtime roots in the Fort Smith insurance industry, starting as The Allen Kennedy Agency in 1889, according to the company website. After a merger and other changes over the years, the company became Cross Pointe in 2014, serving its customer base in both Arkansas and Oklahoma.

“They are retail, independent insurance agents just like we are … we’ve got a lot of similarities in that we’re old-style, independent insurance agents,” Morriss said. As independent agents, they have a certain amount of clout and connections to insurance carriers that provide the actual policies, he said.

“We are confident that being a part of a larger organization will give us even more influence and connection with those same carriers. We represent most of the same carriers and so when we combine our business and our volume and our client base together, we should get even better service from our carriers,” Morriss said.

With a more global business climate, the Offenhauser president said, there are advantages to being larger, too, along with the 21st century business realities like the internet and electronic marketing.

“It’s going to be a pretty uneventful change as far as our clients are concerned,” Morriss said. “We plan to continue to be an important part of the local economy.”

A request for comment from Cross Pointe was not immediately returned.