Business Moves – East
Onex Corp., USI
Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp. agreed to acquire insurance brokerage USI from Goldman Sachs Group’s GS Capital Partners private equity fund in a transaction valued at $2.3 billion. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.
USI, based in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., is ranked as one of the 10-largest insurance brokerages in the United States. Founded in 1994, USI has over 3,300 employees in some 100 offices across the country.
Goldman Sachs Group’s GS Capital Partners bought USI in 2007 in a deal valued at around $1.4 billion, including repayment of USI’s debt obligations.
USI itself has been actively acquiring smaller insurance agencies and brokers in recent years, most recently buying TD Bank’s U.S. insurance unit last September. USI has purchased some 30 firms since being acquired by Goldman.
Headquartered in Toronto, Onex Corp. has $14 billion of assets under management.
KKR, Alliant Insurance Services
New York-based investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. agreed to acquire Newport Beach, Calif.-based Alliant Insurance Services Inc. from rival private-equity firm Blackstone Group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Blackstone had purchased Alliant in 2007 from investment firm Lindsay Goldberg for more than $1.1 billion. The management team and employees of Alliant own 45 percent of the company and will roll over a substantial portion of their investment in the company.
Alliant is one of the largest insurance brokerage firms in the U.S.
Alliant provides property/casualty, workers’ comp, employee benefits, surety, and financial products and services to some 20,000 clients nationwide.
Marsh
Marsh, the insurance broking division of N.Y.-headquartered Marsh & McLennan Cos., created a global surety practice unit.
Marsh said its network of over 200 surety specialists are already providing clients with consulting and brokerage services in construction and commercial specialties around the world, and that the creation of Marsh’s global surety practice unit is a crucial step toward aligning surety colleagues globally and enhancing the capabilities.
Endurance Specialty, Galileo
Bermuda-based Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. acquired the assets of N.Y.-based Galileo Weather Risk Management, a provider of weather risk management products and services, and has hired all of its employees. The acquired business will become the foundation of Endurance’s newly formed unit, Endurance Global Weather, which will offer weather risk management products to help clients manage the impact of weather variability on their businesses.
Northwest Savings, Bert Insurance
Northwest Savings Bank agreed to acquire The Bert Insurance Group, an employee benefits and property/casualty insurance agency based in Erie, Penn.
The Bert Insurance Group specializes in commercial and personal insurance planning as well as retirement benefit plans.
Warren, Penn.-based Northwest Savings Bank currently holds assets of $8 billion and operates 166 community-banking locations in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and Maryland.
The Bert Insurance Group will operate as a division of Northwest Savings Bank.
Brown & Brown, JSI
A subsidiary of Brown & Brown Inc. purchased certain assets of Fairfax, Va.-based Johnson & Strachan Inc (JSI). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Johnson & Strachan has annual revenues of $2.7 million and provides property/casualty, employee benefits and personal lines products to its clients in Virginia.
The acquired operations of Johnson & Strachan will combine with Brown & Brown’s existing office in Manassas, Va., under the leadership of Bill Strachan, a shareholder in Johnson & Strachan. Brown & Brown Inc. is an insurance brokerage firm headquartered in Daytona Beach, Fla.