Acquisition expands brokerage’s footprint in Ontario

McDougall Insurance & Financial is expanding its horizons, with its sights set on areas outside of its typical eastern Ontario operating range.

The Belleville, Ont.-based brokerage announced on Friday that it had merged with Mink Insurance Services in Midland, Ont., the first merger in the central part of the province.

“It’s an indication that we are broadening our look a little bit outside of eastern Ontario,” Kelly McKinney, McDougall Insurance’s vice president of marketing and digital, told Canadian Underwriter on Monday. “In the future, we’ll be looking to acquires other brokerages all over Ontario.”

With 31 offices throughout eastern Ontario and over 350 staff, McDougall Insurance covers a region spreading from Oshawa to Cornwall and then north to the Ottawa Valley.

Mink Insurance handles all classes of P&C insurance, plus surety bonding, life and group insurance. Mink’s staff of 15 will remain in the Midland branch office, and the brokerage’s operations and name will remain the same. Mink has a premium volume of $11 million.

Both McDougall and Mink Insurance are independent, family-run brokerages. Mink has similar mindset to McDougall’s, even though Mink is a smaller brokerage, McKinney said.

“They have a customers first type of approach, which we like,” he said. “Midland for sure is a bit of a departure, but we are able to do it because the mindset is so close to the way we think that suddenly geography doesn’t seem to matter quite as much.”

On Aug. 1, McDougall – which has about $265 million in P&C premiums (not including life insurance or benefits) – announced that it had merged with Peterborough, Ont.-based Monkman Insurance. The smaller brokerage’s 22 employees, including current owners Eric Monkman and Dave Smith, continued with the Peterborough branch office after the merger.