Wholesale Insurance Brokers AmWINS, Colemont Merge

AmWINS Group, Inc. and Colemont Insurance Brokers announced that the two companies will be combined to form a specialty insurance distributor placing more than $4.8 billion in annual premiums with more than 1,800 employees in 16 countries worldwide.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The combined firm will be led by Steve DeCarlo, CEO; Skip Cooper, president; James Drinkwater, president, U.S. Brokerage Division; Sam Fleet, president, Group Benefits Division; Michael Lapeyrouse, underwriting division leader and president, The American Equity Underwriters Inc.; and Surinder Beerh, CEO, Colemont Global Group.

The combined organization will operate under the AmWINS Group Inc. name and will be composed of four divisions: AmWINS Brokerage; AmWINS Underwriting; AmWINS Group Benefits; and Colemont Global Group.

The combined organization will have access to more than 1,000 specialty lines markets and programs, as well as in-house underwriting facilities and group benefits products.

The combination with Colemont marks AmWINS’ first foray into the international insurance marketplace.

Macquarie Capital Advisors acted as financial advisor to Colemont Insurance Brokers.

Based in Charlotte, N,C., AmWINS operates through more than 45 offices across the United States and handles premium placements in excess of $3.5 billion dollars annually.

Founded in 1992, Colemont Insurance Brokers is home to 700 insurance professionals across the globe, who together placed over $1.3 billion in gross premium last year.