ROANOKE, Va.—Marsh & McLennan Agency L.L.C.'s acquisition of Thomas Rutherfoord Inc. gives Marsh's middle-market-focused operation a solid foothold in the Mid-Atlantic region and could help it attract new agency partners, analysts say.

Last week's deal, which is Marsh & McLennan Agency's largest deal to date, brings the Marsh Inc. subsidiary to $171 million in revenue, the New York-based unit said. Terms of the transaction, the unit's fourth deal since it launched early last year, were not disclosed.

Rutherfoord is the 32nd largest broker of U.S. business, according to Business Insurance's 2009 ranking.

Established in 1916, Roanoke, Va.-based Rutherfoord has $81 million in annual revenue, with more than 300 employees operating out of 10 offices. Its specialty areas include marine, transportation, real estate, construction, environmental and health care.

Marsh said the firm will continue operating under the Rutherfoord name for now, serving as Marsh& McLennan Agency's lead brokerage operation in the Mid-Atlantic region and Washington.

Rutherfoord's top executives—Chairman Thomas D. Rutherfoord Jr., CEO Thomas R. Brown and President and Chief Operating Officer George A. Steadman III—will continue to lead the regional business, and all of Rutherfoord's employees will remain with the firm.

David L. Eslick, chairman and CEO of Marsh & McLennan Agency, said Rutherfoord's attractions went beyond its volume of business. He cited the “great respect within the industry” Rutherfoord enjoys, its “phenomenal talent” and “strong capabilities around industry specializations.”

“I think it's a fantastic deal for Marsh. Really a blue chip agency, Middle Atlantic. They're hard to come by there,” said Kevin Donoghue, managing director at Mystic Capital Advisors Group L.L.C. in New York.

“It's a quality firm with good structure, good deliverables. It's got a nice footprint in the Southeast,” said Timothy J. Cunningham, partner at OPTIS Partners L.L.C. in Chicago. “It's an A+ acquisition for them.”

“I clearly think it's a significant acquisition and an opportunity for the Marsh Agency as they try to build out their hub-and-spoke model,” said Robert J. Lieblein, managing partner at Hales & Co. in Harrisburg, Pa. “It greatly enhances their opportunity to now do some add-on acquisitions on the East Coast.”

Mr. Lieblein said he thinks the latest deal by the Marsh unit will prompt owners of other similarly sized independent agencies “to take a step back and kind of take a look at the landscape.”

“It would not surprise me if it would accelerate the consolidation in that segment of the industry,” he said, adding that it will cause agency owners to “evaluate what the competitive landscape is going to look like three to five years down the road,” in some cases weighing the possibility of partnering with Marsh & McLennan Agency as a strategic move.

From Rutherfoord's perspective, the Marsh deal also is a good fit, according to Mr. Brown, the Rutherfoord CEO, who added that the company was not looking for a buyer.

“We were not out soliciting bids,” Mr. Brown said. “The only reason we entertained (the Marsh offer) is because we liked the concept.”

“They were interested in us, I think, as a platform for the 10-state region that we were playing in,” Mr. Brown said. “From our perspective, it seemed like a pretty interesting concept. We didn't lose one single person.”

“It was not as much about a financial transaction as it was about a strategic fit going forward,” he said. “We're all staying on board. We're going to remain engaged.”

The move allows Rutherfoord to better serve its clients, Mr. Brown said, and potentially puts the agency, which has never done acquisitions, in the position to be an acquirer as Marsh & McLennan Agency looks to build out its hub-and-spoke strategy.

“We know people,” Mr. Brown said. “Now the thing that's interesting to us is that we can go out and look at some potential acquisitions.”

Launched in early 2009, the Marsh unit is “definitely on pace with where we want to be,” Mr. Eslick said, adding that the company will make additional acquisitions. “We continue to be very happy about the pipeline and the people we're talking to,” he said. “Good, solid organizations are seeing that there's a good partnership opportunity.”