Growth, particularly organic growth, made 2011 a memorable year for Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc.

In fact, organic growth reached 5% in 2011 and has continued into this year.

But organic growth was only part of the story. Acquisitions both domestic and international also spurred the brokerage's expansion as it added to its Marsh & McLennan Agency L.L.C. operation and acquired South African brokerage Alexander Forbes Ltd.

“We're very proud of the progress we've made,” said Peter Zaffino, who became Marsh Inc.'s president and CEO last year after serving as president and CEO of Marsh & McLennan's Guy Carpenter & Co. L.L.C. unit.

“We're very optimistic about the prospects for Marsh to grow,” he said, adding that Marsh has enjoyed “very strong client retention and strong new business” during the past year.

Marsh & McLennan's gross revenues surged 8.9% to an estimated $11.55 billion in 2011. That was enough to regain the No. 1 spot on Business Insurance's 2012 rankings of the world's largest brokers. It had lost that position to rival Aon P.L.C. last year.

Commercial retail brokerage revenue grew 8.9% to $5.21 billion. The percentage of revenue generated by U.S. vs. non-U.S. sources remained the same as it had been in 2010 and 2009 at 44% vs. 56%. Commercial retail brokerage income from U.S. offices grew 8.9% to $2.47 billion, while that from non-U.S. offices grew 9.0% to $2.74 billion.

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Growth continued in the first quarter of 2012, with Marsh & McLennan's first-quarter 2012 revenues rising 5.5% compared with the prior-year period to $3.05 billion. Revenues for the company's Marsh Inc. brokerage and risk management unit rose 7.8% to $1.38 billion. Marsh & McLennan's net income for the quarter grew 6.8% from the same quarter in 2011 to $347 million.

Marsh has had an “incredible focus” on growth, said Mr. Zaffino. “We've seen very strong organic growth” in 2011 and 2012 to date, he said. Overall growth has been very strong in Latin America and Asia as well as the United States, Mr. Zaffino said.

The acquisition of Alexander Forbes was a “tremendous strategic acquisition,” said Mr. Zaffino. “It's a great asset” that fits well with Marsh's culture, he said. He noted that there is lot of outside investment flowing into Africa.

On the domestic side, the Marsh Agency segment continues to grow, he noted. Marsh is “trying to purchase very-high-quality agencies” as it seeks to strengthen its position in the small to midsize business market, he said.

“We're very happy how we've increased market share in the middle market,” he said. Despite heated competition for high-quality agencies, Marsh has acquired 19 agencies since launching Marsh Agency in 2009.

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Mr. Zaffino said Marsh is positioned for growth, adding that the broker has been “very innovative” over the past year. Among the products and services introduced since the middle of 2011 are the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Corporate Response product, which provides individual and organization cover for the cost of investigations launched under the FCPA in the United States, as well as those initiated under the United Kingdom's Bribery Act and other foreign regulations to the extent they parallel the FCPA's anti-bribery provisions. Marsh also introduced its CloudProtect endorsement to protect companies against first-party losses stemming from a cloud service provider's failure, and late last month unveiled its new Marsh Risk Management Global Insurance Index, which is made up of client renewal data on specific lines of coverage in 20 large countries.

Analysts who follow Marsh are impressed with the company's performance.

Marsh is “extremely solid,” said Meyer Shields, director at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc. in Baltimore. “Two issues investors look at that we look at would be organic growth and margin expansion. On the organic growth, their insurance brokerage segment is growing between 4% and almost 7%. Margins continue to drift upward as well.”

“It's continued along the track” Marsh was on last year of being “best in class,” said Keith Walsh, director-insurance research at Citi Investment Research in New York.

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“The follow-through for the company in the post-Cherkasky era has been outstanding. It shouldn't be surprising when you've got people the caliber of Brian Duperrault, Dan Glaser and Peter Zaffino at the top of the organization. I consider Marsh to be better than they were in the past, because they're truly a profitable organization now vs. a company with good capabilities with a contingent commission subsidy masking the underlying economics.”

Mr. Duperrault is president and CEO of Marsh & McLennan, and Mr. Glaser is group president and chief operating officer of Marsh & McLennan. Mr. Duperrault succeeded Michael Cherkasky as CEO of Marsh & McLennan in 2008.