Gallagher to buy Boston broker

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. on Tuesday said it will acquire Boston-based William Gallagher Associates Insurance Brokers Inc.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015, when a decision about a name change will also most likely be discussed “but it probably won't change too much,” an Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. spokeswoman said.

“The WGA acquisition gives us a wonderful opportunity to significantly expand our operating platform in the Eastern U.S. and market presence in two of our core businesses,” Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. President and CEO J. Patrick Gallagher Jr. said in a statement.

Those core businesses are retail property/casualty and benefits consultant and broker segments of the company's risk management core, according to the spokeswoman.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. is the world's fourth-largest insurance broker, while William Gallagher Associates is the 65th-largest broker of U.S. business, according to Business Insurance's latest ranking.