Business Moves

Gallagher, IFS

Insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Independent Fiduciary Services Inc. (IFS), a Washington-based institutional investment advisory firm.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1986, IFS provides investment consulting and other services to pension, welfare and other institutional investor clients throughout the United States. The firm’s clients span ERISA funds, including both Taft-Hartley and corporate plans, as well as public pension plans and other institutional investors.

Francis Lilly, Samuel Halpern and their staff will continue to operate from their current Washington, D.C., and Newark, New Jersey locations under the direction of Michael J. DiCenso, President of GBS Investment Consulting, LLC, a division of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s employee benefit consulting and insurance brokerage operations.

J. Patrick Gallagher Jr., chairman, president and CEO of Arthur J. Gallagher, called IFS “a terrific complement to our employee benefit operation’s retirement services practice.

BHMS, Hilb

A New York private investment firm has taken a controlling interest in Virginia-based insurance broker The Hilb Group.

BHMS Investments said it has completed a controlling equity investment in The Hilb Group, which was formed in 2009 by former senior executives of Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Co. (HRH), which was bought by broker Willis Group Holdings for $2.1 billion in 2008.

Hilb said its senior management team will continue to hold a significant ownership stake in the business.

Robert J. Hilb, CEO of Hilb, said the capital provided by BHMS will help the firm further execute on its plan to build a leading middle market brokerage agency in the tradition of HRH – a plan that includes retail agency acquisitions.

Starr, Dahzong

A subsidiary of New York-based Starr Cos has been approved by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) as a strategic equity investor of Dazhong Insurance Co. Ltd. of China.

Starr International said the approval allows it, “through its subsidiary, Starr Insurance & Reinsurance Ltd., to take a significant equity position in Dazhong Insurance and become its largest single shareholder.”

Maurice R. Greenberg, chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr & Co., and Starr International said that “China is experiencing incredible growth, creating an increasing need for insurance products and services. We recognize Dazhong as a company with great potential – one that is positioned to emerge as one of the most significant insurance organizations in the region.”

Together, the companies are expected to leverage Starr International’s product and distribution expertise to broaden the companies’ offerings and expand within China.

United Frontier, MSO

United Frontier Mutual Insurance Co. is now a member of Mutual Service Office Inc. (MSO), a New Jersey-based rating service bureau.

United Frontier, based in Lockport, N.Y., is a P/C insurer that was founded in 1877 as The Farmers Mutual Insurance Co. of Orleans and Niagara Counties. Its current name was adopted in 1987.

SIAA

The Strategic Insurance Agency Alliance (SIAA) said it added 33 new members last month, at least 24 of which were former captive agents. In all, SIAA agencies wrote over $81 million in new written premium for the first quarter this year, a $10 million increase from the previous quarter.

Topics China A.J. Gallagher