The total of insurance agency mergers and acquisitions during the first six months of 2024 was the lowest over the first half since 2020, according to investment banking and financial firm OPTIS Partners.
OPTIS Partners’ M&A database counted 300 announced insurance agency mergers and acquisitions for the first half 2024, down 20% from 385 during the first half 2023.
The second quarter marked eight straight quarters of a drop in deal count, with 146 deals compared to 154 deals announced during the first quarter 2024. First-quarter M&A was down 18%.
Transactions are down 21% over the last 12 months to 739 from 941.
“While some formerly very active buyers became relatively inactive, it appears that a few are picking up the pace slightly. Others that didn’t slow down in the recent economic downturn indeed have increased their buying pace,.” said Timothy J. Cunningham, OPTIS managing partner.
BroadStreet Partners recorded the most transactions during the first six months with 46—up 77% from the same period a year ago. Inszone and Hub followed with 27 and 26 deals, respectively. Chicago-based OPTIS noted Inszone’s deal pace has increased each year since 2021.
“We could be only at the beginning of a longer slide, but it seems unlikely,” Steve Germundson, a partner at OPTIS Partners, said. “A plethora of buyers are still looking to invest capital, and there are still a robust number of independent agencies unable to internally perpetuate their ownership. So we could likely be approaching a ‘normal’ level of deal-making, similar to what we saw around 2017-2019.
OPTIS said the top 13 buyers in H1 2024 were all private equity firms except Leavitt Group and Arthur J. Gallagher, and accounted for 193 of the 300 first-half deals.
Notable brokers transactions included Aon’s $2 billion buy of NFP, Truist Insurance Holdings’ $3.4 billion sale to Stone Point Capital and others, and the $58 million purchase of Fisher Brown Bottrell by Marsh McLennan Agency, OPTIS said.
Topics Mergers & Acquisitions
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