Brown & Brown adds five to fold

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Daytona Beach, Fla.-based Brown & Brown Inc. has completed business acquisitions in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan and New Jersey with combined annualized revenue of about $22 million.

The purchases include LDP Consulting Group Inc., which will remain in Lambertville, Livingston and Shrewsbury, N.J., as a free-standing Brown & Brown employee benefits unit led by Chief Executive Officer Louis E. Della Penna Sr., the brokerage said in a statement.

Other purchases include: Smith-Peabody-Stiles Insurance Agency Inc. in Fenton and Brighton, Mich.; AGA Insurance based in Alpharetta, Ga.; MEW Custom Staffing L.L.C., which does business as Custom Outsourcing, based in Tampa, Fla.; and Diversified Insurance Brokerage Group Inc. based in Indianapolis.

Gallagher buys brokers, consultant

ITASCA, Ill.—Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., which said it completed a record 21 acquisitions last year, has added two retail brokerages and an institutional investment consulting firm so far this year.

The broker purchases by the Itasca, Ill.-based Gallagher include Petty Burton Associates Inc. of Montclair, N.J., and Crist Elliott Machette Insurance Services Inc. of Oakland, Calif. Gallagher also said it completed the purchase of consultant Yanni Partners Inc. of Pittsburgh.

BB&T unit to purchase MGU

STAMFORD, Conn.—Houston-based managing general underwriter AmRisc L.P., a subsidiary of BB&T Corp., said it plans to purchase reinsurance brokerage Savannah Reinsurance Underwriting Management L.L.C. of Stamford, Conn.

Price of the purchase from Glencoe U.S. Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of RenaissanceRe Holding Ltd., was not disclosed. AmRisc said the acquisition is expected to close sometime this month.

MetLife completes SafeGuard purchase

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif.—New York-based Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. said it has completed the purchase of SafeGuard Health Enterprises Inc., a Laguna Hills, Calif.-based dental and vision plan provider with about 1.8 million members serving primarily California, Florida, Nevada and Texas.

Hanover agrees to buy Verlan Holdings

SILVER SPRING, Md.—Hanover Insurance Group Inc. of Worcester, Mass., has reached a definitive agreement to buy Silver Spring, Md.-based Verlan Holdings Inc., which provides insurance and other services to chemical product manufacturers and distributors.

In a statement, Hanover said the purchase, which is expected to close by the end of the first quarter, is subject to regulatory reviews and approval of Verlan Holdings' shareholders.

HRH office to house three acquisitions

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo.—Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Co. has completed the acquisition of substantially all the assets of Denver-based Talty Insurance Agency Inc., which will move to a new HRH office in Greenwood Village, Colo.

HRH said the new office, which is expected to be completed by April 1 and be led by Vp and West Region Director William Creedon, also would house two other recent Colorado acquisitions: Urman Co. and Brown/Raynor Corp.

Law firm moves Philly office

BLUE BELL, Pa.—Nelson Levine de Luca & Horst L.L.C., a law firm that works primarily with insurers, has moved its Philadelphia-area office to 518 Township Line Road, Suite 300, Blue Bell, Pa. 19422. Phone: 215-358-5100.

USI adds broker, marketing accord

MERIDEN, Conn.—USI Holdings Corp. said it has completed the acquisition of Meriden, Conn.-based Webster Insurance Inc. from Webster Financial Corp. Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.-based USI said the brokerage is expected to contribute about $26 million in annualized revenue.

USI also said it had reached a product and service marketing agreement with Webster Financial.

Engle Martin moves Midwest offices

CHICAGO—Atlanta-based adjuster and claims administrator Engle Martin & Associates Inc. has opened new offices in the Chicago and Minneapolis areas.

The Chicago-area office now is at 1211 W. 22nd St., Suite 102, Oak Brook, Ill. 60523. Phone: 630-368-3710.

The Minneapolis-area office is at 7100 Northland Circle, Suite 108, Brooklyn Park, Minn. 55428. Phone: 763-230-7300.

Lockton opens 20th U.S. office

PHOENIX—Kansas City, Mo.-based brokerage Lockton Cos. L.L.C. has opened its 20th U.S. office, a Phoenix site focusing on employee benefits.

The office led by Senior Vp Todd Newton is at 2375 E. Camelback Road, Suite 500, Phoenix, Ariz. 85016. Phone: 602-957-1966.

Preventive care network expanding

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Dallas-based U.S. Preventive Medicine, which offers wellness, chronic care and early disease detection programs, said it plans to open an international operations center in Jacksonville, Fla.

The new office, which is to open by midyear, will incorporate current operations and allow for expansion of up to 100 positions in the next year, the company said.

Law firm unit targets subprime woes

NEW YORK—Reacting to more than 200 lawsuits nationwide as a result of the subprime crisis, New York-based law firm Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell L.L.P. said it has formed a Financial Guaranty Insurers Section.

"The housing downturn is threatening to cripple some bond insurers that wrote billions of dollars of guarantees in the past few years on securities backed by risky subprime-mortgage debt because they entered into contracts know as credit-default swaps," said Brian Casey, a partner with the firm and a leader of the new section.

BIMA backs captive designation

HAMILTON, Bermuda—The Bermuda Insurance Management Assn. has endorsed the Associate in Captive Insurance professional designation—the only captive insurance professional designation—offered by the International Center for Captive Insurance Education.

In addition, BIMA and the Bermuda Captive Conference have established a fund to pay the complete tuition of two Bermuda students going through the ACI program and scholarships to help two other Bermuda students seeking a captive insurance career.

Dovetail chooses South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C.—Dovetail Insurance Corp., an insurance technology and services company founded recently by New York venture capital firm Pequot Ventures, has chosen Columbia, S.C., as its headquarters.

Dovetail's office is at 1901 Assembly St., Suite 360, Columbia, S.C. 29201. Phone: 803-255-8891.