Mergers and acquisitions among U.S. insurance brokers and agencies kept up a “furious pace” through the third quarter of 2019, with 451 announced transactions year-to-date through Sept. 30, surpassing the deal counts of 429 in 2018 and 418 in 2017, according to a report by MarshBerry Capital Inc. released Wednesday.
Demand remains “incredibly high” and there are no apparent warning signals of a slowdown in the short term, the analyst advisory firm based in Woodmere, Ohio, said in the report.
Chicago-based Hub International Ltd. was the most acquisitive buyer year-to-date in 2019, with 28 announced transactions, representing 6.2% of total deals through the third quarter, MarshBerry said in the report.
Columbus, Ohio-based BroadStreet Partners Inc. reported the second-highest number of deals at 26, while Lake Mary, Florida-based AssuredPartners Inc. reported 25 deals.
Caledonia, Michigan-based Acrisure LLC and Fort Washington, Pennsylvania-based Patriot Growth Insurance Services LLC each reported 24 deals, while Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. was the highest-ranked public company buyer with 22 deals.
Deal values saw another increase through the third quarter and the average transaction price continues to climb with a total potential deal value of 11.56 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, MarshBerry said.
This represents a 6.5% increase compared with year-end 2018, the report said.
“There are numerous additional deals slated to close in Q4 2019 that have valuations that may top these trailing values. We are in a hot market,” Phil Trem, president at MarshBerry, said in the report.
Mergers and acquisitions among insurance agents and brokers in the United States and Canada continued apace in the first half of 2019 with 328 announced transactions, which is a 12.7% increase over 2018 and only slightly fewer than the record 333 deals in the first half of 2017, according to a report by Optis Partners LLC released Monday.