Known for numerous, smaller acquisitions in recent years, Brown & Brown Inc. firmly entered the large-account space with this year's acquisition of rival Beecher Carlson Holdings Inc.

The Daytona Beach, Fla.-based broker in May announced the $336.5 million purchase of Atlanta-based Beecher Carlson, which was the 27th-largest broker of U.S. business in the 2012 Business Insurance ranking. The acquisition is the largest in Brown & Brown's 74-year history.

Analyst Meyer Shields, managing director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. in Baltimore, said the Beecher & Carlson acquisition is “a little out of character. Historically, Brown & Brown did many small acquisitions.”

They have previously, however, “done a couple of large ones which have worked out well,” Mr. Shields said in noting Brown & Brown's January 2012 acquisition of San Diego-based Arrowhead General Insurance Agency Inc., a national insurance program manager with $106.1 million in 2011 revenue. “That, I think, has proven that they're capable of handling the integration.”

Kenneth Billingsley, Washington-based senior vice president at Compass Point Research & Trading L.L.C., said the Arrowhead and Beecher Carlson acquisitions show that Brown & Brown President and CEO J. Powell Brown is “putting his stamp on the company.”

While small and medium-size companies previously were Brown & Brown's “bread and butter,” Mr. Billingsley said, “this is an opportunity for the brokerage to market against large competitors.”

However, “I would not expect Brown & Brown to change its operating structure” to focus on large-account business and compete with Aon P.L.C. and Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc., he said.

Despite posting the second-highest growth rate in 2012 among the world's 10 largest brokers, Brown & Brown fell to No. 8 in the 2013 Business Insurance ranking due in large part to a 34.1% surge by BB&T Insurance Holdings Inc.

Brown & Brown's top executive is unfazed by the challenges involved in the acquisition of Beecher Carlson, which had nearly $104 million in 2012 revenue from U.S.-based clients, and said the brokerages are compatible.

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“They're very similar in the way they're a very sales-driven culture,” said Mr. Brown. “They put their clients first; they recruit and retain very high-quality people, and they've developed very strong relationships with their risk-bearing partners; and all of those are very similar to the way we operate.”

Mr. Brown said, “Arrowhead has made us better in certain parts in the program space, but we were already a big program writer.”

“Some people think we don't write large accounts, and actually we write a lot of middle-market and upper middle-market” business. Beecher Carlson “will be a great addition to our retail division,” Mr. Brown said.

He said the Arrowhead acquisition allowed Brown & Brown to start “growing our business organically again,” As a result, organic growth is “continuing to operate our business in an efficient manner,” he said.

In other developments, Zurich Insurance Co. Ltd. last October year transferred its book of automobile aftermarket business to Arrowhead with about 170 Zurich employees from sales, underwriting, operations and customer service switching their employment to Arrowhead.

“That's going very well,” said Mr. Brown. “We're very excited about the new teammates that are joining our team as a result of that, and the growth opportunities for us as an organization.”

For now, Mr. Brown, who describes the brokerage as a “very decentralized, entrepreneurial business,” said, “we're really pleased with our internal growth last year and moving into 2013.”

Mr. Brown said the company is seeking to invest in all of its businesses.

“It is a function more of finding the right people that fit culturally, rather than saying we want to invest in a particular geographic region,” Mr. Brown said.

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The brokerage “is a proxy for the middle-market economy, and so our clients seem to have a cautiously optimistic view of the future,” Mr. Brown said. “That means they're slow to add new people even as their sales are expanding, and they're cautious about making major capital expenditures until it's absolutely necessary.”

Mr. Shields said he is “still reasonably optimistic” about the company's prospects. “When we see a combination of generally rising insurance rates and what seems to be a slowly recovering economy, both of those should translate into more demand, for instance, and that's Brown & Brown's business.”

While insurance rates have risen somewhat, “We think that there will be a moderation of rate pressure over time” due to the market's $580 billion in surplus, Mr. Brown said.

Meanwhile, the brokerage's goal is to reach $2 billion in annual revenue.

“That's our next intermediate goal and, when we get there, we'll have another goal that will be stated publicly, and we're excited about that,” Mr. Brown said, without elaborating.