How can consolidators afford to buy brokerages when interest rates on bank loans to finance deals have steeply increased? Firms that are actively engaged in brokerage buying and selling told CU they have become more selective. “We are getting a…
Selectpath Insurance, a Navacord brokerage, has partnered with Myers Insurance to enlarge the southwestern Ontario presence of each brokerage. Headquartered in Wallaceburg, Ont., and with an office in Corunna, Myers Insurance is a second-generation multi-lines brokerage run by president Jim…
Rising interest rates are changing the brokerage M&A environment and giving sellers a shorter timeline to produce the projected earnings. And chances are, if they haven’t produced reliable returns already, the buyers may balk on a purchase, said Yan Charbonneau,…
Reports of the death of brokerage mergers and acquisitions in an era of higher interest rates have been greatly exaggerated. Back in early 2023, Canadian Underwriter’s National Broker Survey noticed a curious phenomenon: brokers’ interest in M&A growth had dipped…
Accelerant Holdings U.K. Ltd. has officially entered the Canadian property and casualty insurance market, closing the deal to acquire Omega Insurance Holdings Inc. from Till Capital Corporation. Accelerant will pay Till Capital approximately $13 million Cdn in exchange for all…
Financial institutions, more often than not, have surplus capital. “To satisfy their shareholders, either they need to invest that capital or buy into businesses so they can have a return,” notes Suzanne Pountney, president of Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario…
Looks as if the summer 2023 P&C brokerage merger train will keep on rolling into the fall. Specialist insurance and reinsurance broker BMS Group has acquired Canada-based insurance brokers, Smith & Reid Insurance Brokers Ltd. and O’Neil Insurance. Smith &…
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,”…
Pricing in the representations and warranties (R&W) insurance market has softened relative to the hard market conditions experienced from the start of 2021 into the first half of 2022, industry professionals told CU. R&W insurance protects against financial loss arising…
The Jim Pattison Group, a holding company that does $14-billion in business, has become a minority investor in Alberta-based brokerage HighStreet Insurance Group. The strategic investment marks the entry of the holding company into the Canadian P&C insurance space. Terms…
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…
Small or family-owned brokerages prioritizing digitization strategies will be in a better position to grow through a merger or acquisition, experts told Canadian Underwriter. But it may be easier said than done, given financial or resource constraints faced by many…