Best way to sell small P&C Agency

[wireman]

Have a small N. GA P&C agency that I would like to sell. Primarily commercial. Any ideas on best way to find a potential buyer?

Thanks,

djwire@gmail.com

[Josh]

You could post your agency listing in our classifieds section.

insurance agencies for sale is one of the top search terms that brings traffic to Insurance Journal.

There's also a section for agencies wanted.

[michga11]

bump. good read.

[mhutch69]

try Oak Street Funding as they have a buy/sell portion of their web site which has traffic.

also, without cash, the buyer needs a loan.

[Rainmaker]

Well what's curious to me is that you are doing this on your own without an intermediary, who would be responsible for representing you on the valuation and seeking buyers on your behalf. Having made acquisitons during my tenure within the Top 10 Public Brokers, I can tell you as a point of fact that sell-side acquisitions were taken much more seriously and derived higher valuations when represented by a well known intermediary, such as Marsh-Berry or Hales Group. For those that approached us directly we would often insist they found a third party intermediary so we had a higher degree of comfort with the transaction being faithfully and accurately represented by a known player. So I would encourage you to seek representation.

If you want to do this on your own, great. However, I would encourage you to understand metrics, valuations, integration strategy and what the post transaction operating plan (PTOP) will be so that you can be assured of getting a fair price, and, the book not 'blowing up' after the integration which could effect your earn out - meaning you could make less than you originally anticipated.

So with the above as preface, I will answer you question directly:

1) seek out local firms - for best results, look for EBEN only practice groups with no p/c division - for those looking to build a practice from scratch, acquiring a book is attractive to them as a first start vs hiring producers. Also you'll get a higher valuation since they'll be getting the benefits of cross-selling, which is a component of this transaction you can partially capture in your negotiations and derive a higher multiple.

2) ask carrier reps - they know all the players in your market and are great resources for identifying potential buyers, serving as 'character references' since they have had experience working with many of those agencies, and can provide a credible introduction for you to broach this subject with buyers in your marketplace.

3) rifle through a list of agencies in your market - we have that here at Rainmaker (we track about 5,100 throughout the country in all markets) and can help provide some data for you if you wish.

Good luck. Beeeeeee careful if doing this by yourself! It's a very complex area of our business that many try on their own - most get burned. I encourage you to find an intermediary. If you want an introduction to one we will be happy to provide.

Hope this helps!


Hope this helps.