View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2014/05/05/328338.htm
Wells Fargo Insurance has completed the sale of 40 of its smaller regional insurance brokerages and consulting offices to USI Insurance Services.
Wells Fargo said the sale, first announced in January, is part of its strategy to concentrate on markets where it believes the insurance business has the greatest growth potential and stronger partnerships with the bank’s commercial customers. It will focus on middle and upper middle market customers.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
USI is large global insurance broker headquartered in Valhalla, N.Y. that operates out of more than 100 offices across the U.S. It has more than 4,000 employees.
Commenting on the acquisition, Michael J. Sicard, USI’s chairman, president and CEO, said, the cities where it has acquired the Wells Fargo offices are “cities in which USI is looking to invest, expand and grow.” USI focuses on middle markets clients.
About 750 Wells Fargo employees who were working in the locations at the close of the transaction closes were offered jobs by USI, according to the announcement.
The remaining 55 insurance locations that Wells Fargo is keeping are in larger markets that generate more than 90 percent of brokerage revenue, said Laura Schupbach, head of Wells Fargo Insurance, in January when the deal with USI was first announced.
“Wells Fargo continues to invest in and strengthen our insurance business,” said Schupbach. “This transaction is an important step in our ongoing strategy to grow the business in markets where we have the greatest opportunity to serve more of our core middle, upper middle market and risk management customers.”
Under the agreement, USI acquired the following locations: (Ala.) Birmingham, Tuscaloosa; (Alaska) Anchorage; (Calif.) Fresno, Grass Valley; (Fla.) West Palm Beach; (Ga.) Savannah; (Idaho) Boise; (Ind.) Elkhart, Fort Wayne; (Kan.) Overland Park; (Ky.) Lexington, Louisville; (Mich.) Grand Rapids; (Minn.); St Cloud; (Neb.) Omaha; (N.M.) Albuquerque; (N.D.) Bismark, Fargo, Minot, Valley City; (Ohio) Dayton, Youngstown; (Ore.) Eugene, Newport; (Pa.) Erie; (S.C.) Columbia; (Tenn.) Knoxville; (Texas) El Paso; (Utah) Salt Lake City; (Va.) Abingdon, Bluefield, Norfolk, Vansant; and (W. Va.) Beckley, Charleston, Huntington, Martinsburg, Morgantown, Wheeling.
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