Been in place for a year or so.
There are actually only 2 big players in insurance in Austalia. Promina and IAG.
Promina is a holding company for AAMI, Australian Pensioners Insurance Agency (APIA), Just Car Insurance, Shannons, Vero, Asteron and Tyndall plus a few others (RACQ Insurance, etc).
Promina is OWNED by Suncorp Metway
AAMI doesn't own Shannons, Shannons and AAMI are both part of Promina, owned by Suncorp.
Suncorp also own GIO
Confused now.....
I think you'll find that all the companies, while owned by the same parent, have their own offices and departments with their own quota's and profit requirements. Shannons has been one of the most profitable companies in the Promina group for quite some time due to it's Niche Market for collector cars and older drivers that don't have accidents. I can't see why Suncorp would mess with a profitable company. I believe Suncorp have had financial issues in their insurance sector for the last few years. Shannons bucking the trend.
More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promina_Group
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suncorp-Metway