Property, commercial and automobile insurer Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Company of Canada has received the final regulatory approval to complete its acquisition of GCAN Insurance, the company said Monday.

RSA purchased GCAN Insurance Company and its parent company, Glenstone Capital Incorporated, for $420 million from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board.

It’s the second-biggest insurance transaction of the past decade in Canada.

“We are delighted to enter the New Year having completed this key strategic move,” RSA President and CEO Rowan Saunders said in release. “This acquisition instantly positions us as Canada’s fourth-biggest general insurer and one of Canada’s leading Commercial insurance providers.”

Toronto-based RSA announced in October 2010, that it had agreed to acquire GCAN, a leading Canadian mid-market, large risks, and specialty commercial insurer with gross written premiums in 2009 of $255 million, pending regulatory approval. That approval has now been received.

“This is an exciting time for us,” Saunders said, “because it represents the union of two key players in Canadian insurance with a combined skill set and distribution reach that creates a formidable presence in the Canadian insurance marketplace. And it comes at a time when these internal strengths will be necessary to compete and thrive in Canada’s changing insurance landscape.”

IE