Insurance agency merger and acquisition activity remains red hot and at record levels. Total announced agency acquisitions exceeded 450 in both the last two years, and the 2015-16 total of more than 900 announced deals is easily the highest two-year total on record.
What's the driving force behind this blistering pace of activity? It's no mystery. Private equity investors — minor players in the marketplace a decade ago — accounted for more than half of all announced transactions over the past two years. In fact, nine of the top 10 buyers of agencies over this period are private equity backed. Well-capitalized and willing to price and structure deals aggressively, these private equity investors are fierce competitors with significant advantages over other buyers of insurance agencies, especially private brokers.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
