Business Moves

National

Lincoln International, MarshBerry

Lincoln International, a global investment banking advisory firm, said it has a definitive agreement to acquire MarshBerry, an advisory firm serving the insurance brokerage, insurance distribution, and wealth management sectors for over 40 years.

MarshBerry operates across six U.S. cities and three international locations in Europe, serving a dedicated client base of private, independent brokers and wealth management firms.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition closing is subject to standard regulatory approvals.

Tropolis Acquires Eight Michigan, Texas and Louisiana Agencies

Tropolis Insurance Services, headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, acquired eight agencies across the United States. Each agency will operate under the Tropolis brand moving forward.

Employees from all eight agencies will participate in the company’s employee purpose plan, an equity incentive program that ensures every team member benefits from Tropolis’ future growth and value creation. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

Tropolis acquisitions in Michigan include Warrendale Insurance Agency in Livonia, U.P. Insurance Agency in Iron Mountain, Entrust Insurance and Financial Services in St. Clair Shores, and Canopy Insurance Group in Birmingham.

Texas acquisitions include Infiniti Insurance Services in Spring and King Phillips Insurance in Houston.

Louisiana acquisitions include Beasley Keith Insurance and Safe Harbor Insurance, both in Bossier City.

East

World Insurance Associates, William P. Smart Associates

World Insurance Associates LLC acquired the business of William P. Smart Associates of Fairfield, New Jersey. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

William P. Smart’s niche is the entertainment industry. The agency focuses primarily on commercial insurance, with some personal and employee benefits business.

World Insurance, based in Iselin, New Jersey, serves clients from more than 300 offices across the U.S. and U.K.

Duffy Insurance, Satori Insurance

Duffy Insurance Agencies in Lynn, Massachusetts, acquired Sartori Insurance, a family-run agency that has served the Lexington, Massachusetts, community for more than 50 years.

The Sartori team will continue to operate from the agency’s Lexington office, offering personal and commercial lines insurance.

Duffy Insurance was founded in 1996 by the late Paul Duffy and is currently led by his son, Marc Duffy. Sartori is Duffy’s 16th agency acquisition, and it now has Massachusetts offices in Lynn, Gloucester, Peabody, Lowell, Chelmsford, Georgetown, Marblehead, Salem, Beverly, West Newbury, and now Lexington, as well as in Plaistow, New Hampshire.

Penn-America Underwriters, Sayata

Global Indemnity Group’s subsidiary Penn-America Underwriters has completed the acquisition of Sayata, an AI-enabled digital distribution marketplace and agency operations platform for commercial insurance with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. The company also has operations in Tel Aviv, Israel, and offices in Houston, Texas, and San Francisco, California.

Penn-America Underwriters consists of three agencies: Penn-America Insurance Services; J.H. Ferguson and Associates, which includes the Vacant Express division; and Collectibles Insurance Services. It also now includes three insurance product and service businesses: Sayata, Liberty Insurance Adjustment Agency Inc. and Kaleidoscope Insurance Technologies Inc.

Midwest

World Insurance Associates, Dunaway Insurance Agency, Hoosier Agency

World Insurance Associates acquired the business of Dunaway Insurance Agency of New Palestine, Indiana, and Hoosier Insurance Agency of Bloomfield, Indiana.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Dunaway, founded in 1979, is led by Doug Todd, who works with commercial, agricultural and commercial-affiliated personal lines accounts, and Tina Todd, who manages the personal lines side of the business. Hoosier was founded in 1990 and purchased by Doug Todd in 2005.

Arthur J Gallagher & Co., Bremer Insurance Agencies Inc.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. acquired St. Paul, Minnesota-based Bremer Insurance Agencies Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Bremer Insurance Agencies is a subsidiary of Old National Bancorp following the completion of Old National’s acquisition of Bremer Bank. The agency is a property/casualty insurance broker serving commercial, agricultural and personal lines clients in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Travis Hoaglund and his team will operate under the direction of Sean Gallagher, head of Gallagher’s Great Lakes region retail property/casualty brokerage operations.

Steadfast Group, Novum Underwriting Partners LLC

Steadfast Group acquired a majority stake in U.S.-based specialty managing general agency and wholesale brokerage, Novum Underwriting Partners LLC.

Founded in 2019 and based in Ohio, Novum is underpinned by a proprietary technology platform, Novum Online, which incorporates a marketplace, submission and underwriting functions that enable quoting, servicing and renewals, as well as policy management for agents and distribution partners.

Novum will serve as Steadfast’s program development and management platform in the United States, offering specialist managing general agency and wholesale solutions to its U.S. agent network, ISU Steadfast, and the broader U.S. market.

The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2025.

Gallagher Re, the global reinsurance broker and subsidiary of Arthur J. Gallagher, recently announced an agreement to acquire Steadfast’s reinsurance arm, Steadfast Re Pty Ltd.

Relation Insurance Services, Joseph M. Wiedemann & Sons Inc.

Relation Insurance Services acquired the assets of Joseph M. Wiedemann & Sons Inc. (JMWS).

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

JMWS, a fourth-generation family-owned business based in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, has been serving customers since 1930. They offer a mix of both personal and commercial lines of insurance products and services, focusing on P&C and employee benefits. Their offices will continue to be led by partners John Wiedemann and Ned Cooke.

Southeast

EverPeak Insurance, Method Insurance

Pinnacol Assurance subsidiary EverPeak Insurance has acquired Method Insurance, a workers’ compensation managing general agent based in Nashville, Tennessee. The move will complement EverPeak’s subsidiary Attune, designed to make it easier for brokers to write workers’ comp and commercial insurance.

Method is led by Chairman Richard Rehm and CEO Christopher Rehm, both of whom are physicians.

EverPeak, a workers’ comp specialist with offices in Denver, Colorado, recently announced it had expanded into 11 new states: Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

SageSure, Olympus, Auros and Interboro Insurance.

In a three-way deal involving carriers, underwriters, holding companies and more, catastrophe-focused managing general underwriter SageSure announced it will acquire the managing general agent for Florida-based Olympus Insurance Co. Olympus CEO Time Stroble and the entire Olympus team are expected to remain in their current positions after the deal is completed. SageSure, with offices in Jersey City, New Jersey, said it now operates in 16 states.

As part of the acquisition move, Valence Insurance Holdings, the parent of Auros and Interboro, will acquire Olympus’ captive reinsurer, Radiant Ltd. SageSure will acquire Gemini Financial Holdings Corp. and its subsidiaries, including Olympus MGA. The same parent company, Slaine Holdings, owns Valence and SageSure.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Brightway Insurance, GlobalGreen Insurance Agency

Jacksonville, Florida-based Brightway Insurance acquired GlobalGreen Insurance Agency, a multi-state network. GlobalGreen is headquartered in Chesterfield, Missouri, and has affiliate operations across the country. Jeffrey Wilson is CEO, and Ray Spears is chairman.

Brightway was founded in 2008 and now has franchise agencies in 45 states. The company promises a distribution platform that helps member agents grow rapidly.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

South Central

River Valley Underwriters Inc., Patriot National Underwriters

River Valley Underwriters Inc. will acquire the book of business from Patriot National Underwriters Inc., as well as the current employees. RVU is a family-owned, multi-line MGA based out of Little Rock, Arkansas, specializing in transactional binding authority business as well as wholesale brokerage. RVU will add its carriers and products to the expertise of the current Patriot National staff to continue to deliver the exceptional service that retail agents have come to expect from both parties.

West

Howden, Gravitas Insurance Agency LLC

Howden is acquiring Gravitas Insurance Agency LLC, a Los Angeles-based retail brokerage specializing in contingency insurance for music, sports and live events.

The deal, which is subject to customary closing conditions, follows Howden’s other recent sport and entertainment acquisitions, including U.K. performing arts insurance broker Hencilla Canworth, German film and entertainment insurance broker Franz Gossler and Boni Aldaya, an entertainment broking house in Spain.

Gravitas designs and delivers insurance programs for the entertainment sector, representing performing artists and touring acts, live event organizers, talent agencies and record labels. It was founded in 2022 by John Tomlinson as a brokerage exclusively focused on delivering contingency insurance services for the music, sport and live event communities.

Howden is a global insurance intermediary group that operates in 56 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.