Marsh Agency Buys Georgia Benefits Brokerage

January 4, 2011

Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC reports it has acquired Strategic Benefit Solutions, Inc. (SBS), a $4 million benefits brokerage and consulting firm based in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

SBS will operate within the Rutherfoord division of MMA, expanding Rutherfoord’s Atlanta market position and adding to its employee benefit capabilities. All of SBS’s leadership and employees will join MMA.

Launched in 1998, SBS offers employee benefit services to middle market clients, with an emphasis on health improvement and productivity initiatives.

The transaction marks the first in a series of planned “spoke” acquisitions that MMA will make to enhance the resources and capabilities of its regional hub operations, according to David Eslick, chairman and CEO of MMA

Since its founding in 2008, MMA has been building a national platform primarily to serve the property/casualty and employee benefit needs of the middle market. It now has annual revenues of more than $260 million.

Most recently, MMA completed the acquisition of Trion Group Inc., a privately held employee benefits specialist.

Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, a subsidiary of Marsh, was established in 2008 .

Over the next year, the agency plans to continue growing it’s already sizeable new business, Eslick said in a recent podcast with Insurance Journal’s Kenneth St. Onge.