Hub buys agency recruiting former Nationwide agents

Hub International Ltd. has acquired insurance agency Cosaint Insurance Partners LLC, which has been recruiting former Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. agents who are transitioning to an independent model.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based Cosaint provides commercial and personal insurance in Pennsylvania and surrounding states, according to a statement issued by Hub on Wednesday. Cosaint’s chairman and chief executive officer, Dennis O’Neill, and president and chief operating officer, Robert Bush, will join Hub and report to Neil Hughes, president of Hub’s U.S. central region.

Nationwide announced in April 2018 that it was fully transitioning to an independent agency distribution model by July 2020, and that 2,000 agents who have been operating under the Nationwide brand would have the opportunity to transition to become independent agents by that date.

Cosaint’s principal owners had been part of Nationwide’s exclusive distribution model. Cosaint officials promote its exclusive agent transition program in a video on its website.

Hub said in its statement that Cosaint is the first Nationwide agency to join Hub as Nationwide transitions to the independent model.

Hub is the the fifth-largest insurance brokerage in the world, according to Business Insurance’s latest ranking.