Business Moves

Risk Strategies, John Buttine

Risk Strategies Co. has acquired John Buttine Inc., an insurance brokerage in New York City with a specialty focus on media-related businesses and services. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Established in 1946, John Buttine specializes in providing insurance placement and risk management services for advertising agencies, magazine publishers, trade and public show organizers and associations.

Risk Strategies said John Buttine’s specialization in media-focused businesses is a natural complement to the core business of DeWitt Stern, a Risk Strategies member company based in New York City.

DeWitt Stern, which was acquired by Risk Strategies in 2014, is a national brokerage for media, entertainment and fine arts, counting film and media companies as well as performance venues and live theater among its client base.

Jack M. Buttine, president of John Buttine, and the firm’s 13 staff members will join Risk Strategies as part of the transaction and operate from DeWitt Stern’s New York City office. John Buttine will continue to operate under its current name for the foreseeable future.

Risk Strategies is a privately held, national insurance brokerage and risk management firm based in Boston with offices in more than 25 locations across the U.S. and more than 550 staff members.

Lockton, Outland Consultants

Insurance broker Lockton has acquired Outland Consultants, a global employee benefits consultancy in Glastonbury, Conn. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Since 1998, Outland Consultants has worked with international companies to help assess and manage their employee benefit costs and risks associated with acquisitions, through due diligence analyses, transition and integration support and benefit harmonization.

As a Lockton company, Outland Consultants and its seven associates will continue their work from the Glastonbury location. Keith J. Goodell will remain Outland Consultant’s managing director and consulting actuary and will work closely with Lockton’s team, led by senior vice president Don Harrington, and Lockton’s Global Benefits team, led by senior vice president Pam Enright.

KRA, New Agency Partners

KRA Insurance Agency, based in Springfield, N.J., and New Agency Partners in Parsippany, N.J., have merged, resulting in a newly-formed agency, KRA Agency Partners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

KRA Agency Partners will provide commercial property/casualty insurance, personal lines insurance, and a wide range of group employee benefit and voluntary benefit programs, as well as individual life, disability and long-term care insurance.

KRA Insurance Agency’s 45 employees and New Agency Partners’ 24 employees will become part of the newly-formed KRA Agency Partners and continue to operate from their current offices in Springfield and Parsippany.

Steve Peck, managing partner of New Agency Partners, was named CEO and Michael Rekoon, president of KRA Insurance Agency, was named president of KRA Agency Partners.

Salem Five, Otis Brown

Salem Five, a banking and financial services company based in Salem, Mass., has acquired Otis Brown Insurance Agency Inc. of Lexington, Mass. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Otis Brown Insurance Agency is an independent agency founded in 1953. The agency’s owners, Richard Beamon and Greg Beamon, will continue to manage the Lexington office.

Otis Brown will operate as part of Salem Five’s insurance brokerage subsidiary, Salem Five Insurance, following the transaction.

Founded in 1855, Salem Five operates 30 branches in the greater Boston area with assets in excess of $3.8 billion. Salem Five’s subsidiaries include Salem Five Mortgage Co., Salem Five Financial and Salem Five Insurance.

Brown & Brown, Morstan General Agency

Brown & Brown Inc. has agreed to acquire substantially all of the operating assets of Morstan General Agency Inc. and related companies based in Manhasset, N.Y.

The transaction is expected to close in June, subject to customary closing conditions. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In operation since 1964, Morstan is a wholesale MGA/MGU offering a wide range of products.

The wholesale agency operates from its Manhasset headquarters, with additional offices in New York City, New Jersey and Florida. Morstan had total approximate annual revenues in 2015 of $34 million.

Morstan will continue to operate under its current name from its headquarters in Manhasset, making it the 15th distinct brand in the Brown & Brown Wholesale Division. Morstan shareholders Jay Levy and Howie Levy will continue to lead Morstan’s business. They will report to Kathy Colangelo, senior vice president of the Brown & Brown Wholesale Division.

Headquartered in Daytona Beach, Fla., Brown & Brown, through its subsidiaries, offers a broad range of insurance products and related services.

Great American, Service Lloyds Insurance Co.

Great American Insurance Group and Service Lloyds Insurance Co. announced the acquisition of Service Lloyds’ Texas nonsubscription book of business by Great American. The acquisition was effective April 29, 2016.

The subject business represents approximately $5 to $7 million in in-force gross written premium.

Great American has been providing employers’ primary indemnity coverage for employers that opt out of the Texas workers’ compensation system since 2009. In 2012, Great American purchased Employers Comp Associates Inc. (ECA), a provider that has offered alternative workers’ compensation programs in Texas for more than 20 years.

Arthur J. Gallagher, Hogan Insurance Services

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Hogan Insurance Services Inc., located in Westlake Village, Calif.

Robert Hogan and his team will continue to operate in their current Westlake Village location under the direction of James G. McFarlane, Western regional manager of Gallagher’s retail property/casualty brokerage operation.

Hogan is a retail insurance broker providing property/casualty, employee benefits, risk management and specialty wholesale insurance services. The firm specializes in workers’ compensation for the transportation, automotive, manufacturing and trucking industries.

Arthur J. Gallagher is an insurance brokerage and risk management services firm.

Eastern Insurance, BBS

Eastern Insurance Group LLC, a Natick, Mass.-based independent agency, has acquired BBS Employee Benefits in Newton, Mass. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2002, BBS Employee Benefits provides design, implementation and administration services for employee ben-efits programs.

Eastern Insurance said the acquisition increases its customer base in the Newton and Greater Boston area.

Eastern Insurance is a subsidiary of Boston-based Eastern Bank, the largest independent, mutually owned bank in New England with more than 70,000 insurance customers.

Topics Texas New York A.J. Gallagher