Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) among North American insurance agencies continued at a strong pace during the second quarter of 2017, with 135 reported transactions in the second three months of 2017, Chicago-based OPTIS Partners reports.
There were 185 deals in the first quarter, bringing the six-month total to a record 320.
The data covers U.S. and Canadian agencies selling primarily property/casualty insurance, agencies selling both P/C and employee benefits, those selling only employee benefits, and other wholesale/MGA brokerage businesses.
“As we predicted, 2017 is turning out to be another banner year for M&A,” said Timothy J. Cunningham, managing director of
OPTIS Partners is an investment banking and financial consulting firm specializing in the insurance industry. ”
The OPTIS Partners report breaks down buyers into five groups: private equity (PE)-backed brokers, privately held brokers, publicly held brokers, banks, and all others.
PE-backed buyers continued to lead the charge with 75 transactions in the quarter compared to 60 in the same period last year.
Privately held brokers were the second largest group, completing 39 deals, up from 36 in the second quarter of 2016.
Publicly traded brokers completed 12 deals, down from 14.
Bank acquisitions totaled four, down from seven.
Insurance companies/others bought five agencies, the same as last year.
Sellers by type were P/C agencies (75 announced transactions) and P/C/benefits brokers (24). deals). Sales of employee benefits agencies accounted for 29 deals.
“Most economic, insurance and business indicators are generally favorable, notwithstanding the modest uncertainty with the possible repeal or replacement of the Affordable Care Act,” Daniel P. Menzer, CPA, partner with OPTIS Partners said in the company’s announcement. “Buyers are still being very aggressive in their valuations of prospective acquisition partners, and thus far there has been no shortage of willing sellers.”
The full report can be read at http://optisins.com/articles_and_thought_pieces/read.php?id=34.
Source: OPTIS Partners
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