A brokerage has been added as a defendant in a sideline negligence claim, even though the central legal action for breach of contract involving two other parties (including a defendant reinsurer) has yet to be decided. Ontario’s Superior Court applied…
A softening, but segmented, insurance market is allowing commercial lines brokers to leave some aspects of the years-long hard market behind. Improved pricing models are one key ingredient in the ‘stability’ now seen in commercial lines, brokers observed. Carriers are…
NFP has acquired Rhodes & Williams Ltd. in a transaction that closed May 24, the company said in a press release. The move expands NFP’s Ontario presence “and increases its P&C capabilities and scale across personal risk and commercial lines,”…
Ontario’s Appeal Court has denied an appeal by a St. Catharines, Ont. brokerage in a dispute over the contract terms of a producer buying out his book of business after he served notice he was leaving the brokerage. In Lindsay…
Brokerage owners shouldn’t just invest in digitization for its own sake, says one financial advisor. They should do it to make a purchase and integration easier for consolidators. Consolidators don’t necessarily expect small brokerages to digitize before acquisition, said Alex…
Ballam Insurance Services, a Nova Scotia brokerage that sued its tech vendor 11 years ago over server issues, is allowed to proceed with its case despite examples of ‘inordinate’ and ‘inexcusable’ delays, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia ruled Monday.…
With the Ontario government poised to pump more funding into child care services, the timing was right for brokerage McFarlan Rowlands to acquire Magenta Insurance Professionals, a niche insurance broker focused on children and youth activities, says McFarlan Rowlands CEO…
Buyers are paying up to double-digit multiples for Canadian commercial lines property and casualty brokerages, while pricing for smaller retail brokerages has softened, a P&C industry consulting firm has observed. “Some of the prices being paid for larger commercial brokerages…
Canadian brokerage acquisitions continue coast-to-coast with the recent purchases of four brokerages in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick. Navacord, B.C.-based brokerage Waypoint Insurance, Archway Insurance and Westland Insurance Group (which bought two brokerages) all made acquisition announcements at…
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to raise money from major banks to finance mergers and acquisitions, but well-run brokerages will still be attractive to buyers, suggests an expert in brokerage valuation. “When COVID hit, the banks…
British Columbia-based Westland Insurance Group Ltd. has moved into the Ontario market, announcing that it has acquired Gillons Insurance Brokers Ltd. The “significant and substantial milestone” supports Westland’s expansion strategy to become a national insurance brokerage, the brokerage said when…
Peter Askew has been named president and CEO of the Canadian business of global reinsurance specialist Guy Carpenter & Company LLC, a business of Marsh & McLennan Companies. Effective immediately, Askew will be responsible for Guy Carpenter’s reinsurance broking activities…