Aon’s Price Tag for Scrapped Deal to Buy Willis Rises to $1.4B

August 2, 2021

Insurance broker Aon Plc said on Friday it could have to expend up to $400 million in additional costs tied to the termination of its mega merger deal with Willis Towers Watson, over and above the $1 billion it was required to pay.

The extra costs, which would range between $350 million and $400 million, could be incurred in the third quarter, Aon Chief Financial Officer Christa Davies said on a post-earnings call with analysts.

Earlier this week, the companies said they had mutually decided to pull the plug on their $30 billion merger that would have created the world’s largest insurance broker, due to regulatory objections.

The termination of the deal was hailed as a victory for the Biden administration. Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice sued to block the merger.

“Despite regulatory momentum around the world … we reached an impasse with the U.S. Department of Justice,” Aon Chief Executive Officer Greg Case had said.

The U.S. regulators’ stand was in contrast to that of their European counterparts who had approved the deal on condition the companies sell certain assets.

London-based Aon on Friday reported a 5% drop in second-quarter net income attributable to shareholders.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Trends Pricing Trends Aon

Was this article valuable?

Here are more articles you may enjoy.

Latest Comments

  • August 3, 2021 at 10:05 pm
    Buckle up says:
    Nah...nothing to do with contributions from either side. Aon and WTW were just smoking too much hopium. The previous Administration may have been waiting to see how things pla... read more
  • August 3, 2021 at 9:42 pm
    Buckle up says:
    I think the additional costs will be much higher. It will be interesting to see how all this plays out long-term. The company should focus on its internal problems (staff rete... read more
  • August 3, 2021 at 9:20 am
    Dave says:
    Currently, those companies yield a lot more influence and I'm sure contribute a lot more money. And their heavy support for the Democrats and Biden has so far kept the justice... read more

Add a CommentSee All Comments (6)Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

More News
More News Features