In 1955, Lester L. Bates Sr. (1905-1988) founded New South Life Insurance Company in Columbia, S.C.; his son, Lester Bates, Jr. (1931-2009), also worked closely with him in the company. In 1972, New South Life Insurance Company ran into financial difficulties when it self-reported a nine million dollar deficiency in the state-required reserve, apparently due to miscalculations by the firm's actuary. Bates and his son eventually lost the company.
The company was purchased by the GMAC Insurance Group in 2003. GMAC was founded in 1920 and is the only insurance company in the United States to originate within the automotive industry. GMAC changed its name to National General Insurance (NGI) on July 1, 2013. And in a deal that closed in January 2021, NGI became a subsidiary of Allstate). The Winston-Salem operation moved from downtown to Madison Park in June 2014. In July 2020, Allstate announced it was acquiring National General for $4 billion. The deal closed in January 2021.
Today, the parent company is listed as American Capital Acquisition Corporation, which is the financial division of GMAC. GMAC reports that New South Insurance Company is one of 6 subsidiaries of GMAC which underwrite their policies for different types of insurance. New South Insurance Company is wholly owned by the GMAC financial company, which is, in turn wholly owned by the American Acquisition Corporation.
