“As a company, we are excited and committed to growing all available distribution channels,” Willis President Grahame Millwater said in a press statement. “The Faber & Dumas platform will allow us to include other business from Willis' existing third-party portfolio and other HRH wholesale business.”

The Glencairn operation will focus on growing its revenue from international and U.S. third-party intermediaries, direct clients and global ceding companies, Willis noted. It will continue to provide specialist wholesale services in a number of areas, including property, accident and health, energy, construction, political risk, cargo and casualty lines, Willis added.

Steve Hearn, chairman and chief executive officer of Glencairn, will be responsible for the day-to-day management and future growth of its wholesale business.

“In the current market climate, this gives Glencairn's staff and clients a unique opportunity,” according to Mr. Hearn. “We will maintain our ability to trade independently, but at the same time we gain valuable support and infrastructure to significantly enhance our service, brand and client base.”

Outlining Willis Group's plans for the United Kingdom, Willis Ltd. Chairman and CEO David Margrett, who will be chairman of Faber & Dumas, said that “the London wholesale broking market is fragmented, and we see a huge opportunity for consolidation by creating a financially secure, well-managed business for the benefit of clients, brokers and markets.”

Willis officially exited the U.S. wholesale business in February 2006, when it sold its only wholesale unit, Stewart Smith Group, to American Wholesale Insurance Group. At the time, Willis Chair and CEO Joseph Plumeri said the sale is in keeping with the firm's emphasis to focus on its retail brokerage operations, and its plans to strengthen retail relationships, while divesting non-core operations.

The move came in the wake of then New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's investigations of contingency fees and conflicts of interest in the insurance brokerage sector. At the time, merger and acquisition advisors flagged the Stewart Smith sale as the start of a trend that saw other retailers divorce themselves from their wholesale brokerage units.

HRH, which has acquired and maintained several wholesale operations in recent years, acquired Glencairn Group in December 2006, expanding both its presence in London and its wholesale and reinsurance capabilities.