Business Moves

Alliant, Andre-Romberg

Alliant Insurance Services Inc. has acquired Spokane, Wash.-based Andre-Romberg Insurance Agency.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Andre-Romberg will operate as part of Alliant Americas. Kurtz, along with Andre-Romberg’s entire management team and staff, will join Alliant and continue to service clients from its Spokane offices.

Andre-Romberg provides commercial risk management and personal insurance solutions.

Newport Beach, Calif.-based Alliant provides property/casualty, workers’ compensation, employee benefits, surety and financial products.

Higginbotham, Capps Insurance Agency

Independent insurance broker Higginbotham, headquartered in Fort Worth, and Mount Pleasant, Texas-based Capps Insurance Agency have joined forces.

Higginbotham’s partnership with Capps brings its total number of employees to 750 in 24 offices throughout the state. Both firms have long histories dating to the 1940s.

Capps’ clientele is largely comprised of mid-market businesses in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, and it has a concentration in water and wastewater utility providers and transportation companies.

Higginbotham has a diversified mid-market practice across Texas, but also offers a number of specialties.

Capps will continue operating under its existing name with the leadership of Managing Directors Steve Capps and Norman Wilson, and Agency Manager Jim Fraley.

Brown & Milliken Agency, Holmes Agency

The Brown & Milliken Agency and the Holmes Agency, two independent agencies based in Ellsworth, Maine, announced that their firms have merged. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Brown & Milliken Agency’s 16 employees will continue on with the merged agency. Among the Holmes Agency’s five employees, two will retire and three will continue with the combined firm.

The combined agency will be called the Brown, Holmes & Milliken Agency.

The Brown & Milliken Agency’s co-owners, President Paul Tracy and Vice President/Operations Manager Patrick Maguire, will continue to be co-owners of the merged agency. The Holmes Agency’s owner and president, Blaine Holmes, is retiring from the firm but will maintain his role as president of the Grindstone Financial Group, an agency aggregator made up of 20 member agencies in Maine, including the new Brown, Holmes & Milliken Agency.

Tarpey, W.C. Huntress

Tarpey Insurance Group Inc., a family-owned and operated independent agency with five locations in Massachusetts, has acquired W.C. Huntress Insurance Agency in the Boston suburb of Melrose, Mass. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

W.C. Huntress Insurance has relocated to Tarpey Insurance’s Melrose office. W.C. Huntress Insurance’s three employees have joined Tarpey Insurance as part of the transaction, bringing Tarpey Insurance’s employee count to 36.

McDermott, Mello, Myers-Stevens Mello

McDermott Costa Insurance, Mello Insurance Services and Myers-Stevens Mello & Co. have merged.

The firms will conduct business out of the McDermott Costa office in San Leandro.

Mello Insurance is based in Fremont and provides business and personal insurance coverage.

Myers-Stevens Mello Insurance specializes in employee benefits and life insurance needs for businesses and individuals. Rich Suess will join the organization as vice president of employee benefits.

McDermott Costa provides insurance solutions to commercial clients, including commercial property, general liability, workers’ compensation, employment practices and professional liability, employee benefits and bonding.

Conner Strong, Century Equity

Conner Strong & Buckelew, an insurance and employee benefits brokerage with headquarters in Marlton, N.J., and Philadelphia, announced that it has formed a strategic alliance with Boston-based private equity firm Century Equity Partners.

Conner Strong said Century Equity’s mergers and acquisitions experience and industry relationships would enhance the brokerage’s organic growth and targeted acquisition strategies.

Under the terms, Century Equity will acquire a minority interest in Conner Strong. George E. Norcross, III, Conner Strong’s executive chairman; Mike Tiagwad, president and CEO; and Joseph Buckelew, chairman, will maintain their majority interest in the firm. Together with the existing management team, they will continue in their current leadership positions.

Century Equity focuses on making private equity investments in lower middle-market financial services companies.

Hilb Group, Clark-Mortenson, P.A. Post

The Hilb Group, a middle market insurance agency based in Richmond, Va., has acquired Clark-Mortenson Insurance, a N.H.-based insurance and financial services agency. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1877, Clark-Mortenson Insurance has six locations across New Hampshire and Vermont. The agency serves clients with a variety of personal and business insurance options with specialties in hospitality, eldercare, residential health facilities and technology.

Tom Minkler, Clark-Mortenson Insurance president, will continue to lead the agency’s 48 employees under its existing name. Minkler is a past chairman of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (2013-14).

In addition, The Hilb Group also acquired Mahwah, N.J.-based P.A. Post Agency LLC and its subsidiaries. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Through four generations of family ownership, P.A. Post Agency has specialized in transportation insurance services since its founding in 1915. It provides insurance products for all transportation classes, including school and charter buses, ambulances, limos and taxis.

Brad Post, P.A. Post Agency president, will continue to lead the firm’s 43 employees under its existing name.

Crest, Partners

Cody Ritchie of Crest Insurance Group LLC in Arizona and Ron Wilson of Partners of the West Insurance Services in San Diego, Calif., have merged.

Wilson will continue to manage the California division of Crest.

Crest provides insurance services including commercial, personal and employee benefits. Crest operates with four offices in Arizona and now one in California.

Hub, Pickett and Associates

Hub International Ltd. has acquired the assets of La Quinta, Calif.-based Pickett and Associates Inc.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Pickett’s owners Debra Pickett and Richard Torres will join Hub California and report to Mike Reilly, executive vice president of Hub California.

Pickett specializes in providing employee benefits services and insurance solutions.

Hub is a Chicago, Ill.-based is an insurance brokerage.

Topics California Texas Alliant