Publication
Distress signals: Cooperation agreements or mergers to the rescue in times of crisis?
The current volatile and unpredictable economic climate creates challenges for businesses.
Global | Publication | February 2025
Whilst merger and acquisition (M&A) markets have remained relatively subdued in the years since the pandemic, insurance transactions have kept ticking along.
Private equity investment driving broker M&A activity
There has been a consistently strong appetite for broker M&A, mainly driven by private equity (PE) directly investing into broker and managing general agencies (MGA) platforms and, indirectly, through acquisitions by such platforms as part of roll-up/consolidation strategies. This trend has been seen across the US, UK and increasingly mainland Europe and, given these fundamentals, the volume of deals has been significant, albeit due to the volume and the nature of the roll-up strategy, average deal size has been comparatively low.
Blockbuster broker M&A deals
However, 2024 saw a string of blockbuster broker M&A deals announced, including the acquisition of NFP by AON, that of McGriff by Marsh McLennan and, just before the end of 2024, Arthur J Gallagher’s proposed purchase of AssuredPartners. In light of this, are we seeing a fundamental shift in the market, with the insurgent broker-consolidators finding themselves in the headlights of their larger listed competitors?
In this article, we reflect on 2024 and explore what hot topics may shape insurance M&A in 2025 and beyond:
Indications are that 2025 will see the start of a new phase in the cycle and it could be a busy year for M&A across the insurance sector with activity driven by the various different factors and tailwinds discussed above.
Publication
The current volatile and unpredictable economic climate creates challenges for businesses.
Publication
On April 17, the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) released its Notice of Action and Proposed Action in Section 301 Investigation of China’s Targeting the Maritime, Logistics and Shipbuilding Sectors for Dominance, Request for Comments (the Notice).
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