Hub International Ltd. experienced organic growth in its U.S. insurance brokerage operations in 2011 and is positioning itself to go public again.

“2011 was the first time in several years that we got positive growth out of our U.S. operations,” said Martin P. Hughes, chairman and CEO of Hub, based in Chicago. “That was a huge plus for us.”

Hub's brokerage revenues last year increased 15.3% to $878.3 million, with commercial retail revenues rising 14% to $500.2 million.

The Chicago-based brokerages' performance during 2011 ranked Hub as No. 10 in the 2012 Business Insurance ranking of the world's largest brokers.

Part of the revenue growth is attributed to approximately $48 million of acquisition revenue, Mr. Hughes said.

While insurance rates in 2011 were down approximately 3%, a slightly improved economy in the U.S. and strong operations in Canada—which represents 35% of its total revenue—gave Hub a lift, he said.

“If there hadn't been rate erosion, we would've had at least 5% organic growth,” Mr. Hughes said, noting that new business at the brokerage ran at 14% and retention levels were at 91% last year.

“The economy finally gave us a little bit of a lift in 2011,” he said. “We didn't get much, but maybe we got a point out of the economy in 2011.”

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With 32 brokerage acquisitions in 2011, Hub continued it mergers and acquisitions strategy, which compares with about 22 acquisitions in 2010. Hub made nine acquisitions in the first half of this year.

“One thing about us is that we're very disciplined about the M&A process,” Mr. Hughes said. “We have a discipline, we have a procedure, and we follow it very rigidly. If it doesn't fit strategically, culturally or financially, we just won't do it.”

“Hub specifically is seeing growth opportunities in Brazil,” said Kevin Donoghue, managing director at Mystic Capital Advisors Group L.L.C. in New York.

While Hub's U.S. M&A strategy remains acquisitive, the brokerage is looking to expand. “I think it's a dual strategy,” Mr. Donoghue said.

That strategy applied in its U.S. and Canadian acquisitions resulted in a notable expansion of Hub's operations into Latin America with the acquisition of São Paulo-based Harmonia Corretora de Seguros Ltda. in December for an undisclosed amount.

“We like the business there, and we've got a terrific operation,” Mr. Hughes said. “So we've got a great base to build upon, and that's really our motto: Find a really wonderful platform and then expand that platform by growing it organically and having them do fold-in acquisitions.”

Hub reverted to private ownership in 2007 after it was purchased by Apax Partners L.L.P. and Morgan Stanley Principal Investments Inc., the brokerage's current owners.

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Hub's private ownership may have benefited the brokerage, said John W. Wicher, principal at John Wicher & Associates Inc. in San Francisco.

“Hub's investor group is much less concerned with short-term results as compared with intermediate to long-term value creation,” Mr. Wicher said. “This has been a meaningful advantage over the last four years.”

But Hub has made a key personnel change by hiring a new chief financial officer as it eyes public offerings, Mr. Hughes said.

“As we look down the road and think about next steps for us, which clearly is probably a move back into the public arena, I wanted to make sure that we had a CFO that was really operationally minded,” he said. “For us really, the plan is to keep monitoring the public markets, and when it looks like it would the most appropriate time for us to do it, that's when we'll go.”

Mr. Donoghue of Mystic Capital said that, barring any unforeseen events, Hub's push is to go public.

“There's a continuous push to get to a certain dollar threshold to go public,” Mr. Donoghue said. “I would imagine they are getting close to that threshold.”

Hub's new CFO begins his role Aug. 1; the brokerage declined to provide his name.

Amid a changing commercial marketplace with potentially hardening insurance rates and an overall weak U.S. economy, Hub plans to remain focused on investing in the business.

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“We have substantially invested in the business even during 2009 and 2010,” Mr. Hughes said. That includes hiring new producers at field offices that are subsidized by the corporate office, customer relationship management software, and other producer tools and services.

“We're at a big, major technology push,” Mr. Hughes said, spending more than $10 million on sales technology efforts.

“We just keep thinking that the insurance marketplace is getting a little better,” Mr. Hughes said. “And if rates just turn neutral, we're going to do really well because our new business production is so high and our retention ratios are really good.”