Parent Firm of Unicare in Irvine Plans 1.15-Million-Share Offering

The parent company of UniCare Insurance, a workers’ compensation insurance underwriter based in Irvine, plans to go public with an initial offering of 1.15 million shares aimed at raising between $12.6 million and $15 million.

UniCare Financial Corp. said in a prepared statement that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking to sell the stock at $11 to $13 a share.

Under the offering, the company would sell 1 million shares, and Ralph W. Leatherby, its chairman and principal shareholder, would sell 150,000 of his shares. The company’s portion of the proceeds would be used to increase the firm’s capital for future expansion and to reduce bank debt.

Leatherby, who owns 79% of the 3 million shares currently outstanding, would remain the majority shareholder with 59% of the stock after the new shares are sold, according to his son, Russell E. Leatherby, the company’s secretary and general counsel.

Ralph Leatherby previously started a workers’ compensation insurance company but merged it in the early 1970s into a company now called Western Employers Insurance Co., his son said.

UniCare, founded seven years ago, posted a net income last year of $1.4 million on earned premiums of $22 million.

The New York brokerage and investment banking firm of E.F. Hutton & Co. Inc. is managing an underwriting syndicate for the offering.