US insurance M&A picks up moderately in 2023; brokers still dominate

The US insurance industry saw a total of 137 announced M&A transactions through the first four months of the year, up modestly from the prior year pace, a dataset compiled by a key insurance agency and consultancy has indicted.

Brokerages dominate the list of buyers at 130 of the 137 total deals, the data set by MarshBerry showed.

Of that sum, private capital backed brokerages account for a full 110. Total deals by the private capital-backed brokers increased at a CAGR of 26.9% since 2018. MarshBerry calls the figures “consistent with trends for the last five years.”

The percentage of announced transactions by independent agencies have continued to decline since 2021. On average, 23.1% of total deals were done by this group from 2018 to 2021, compared to 12.6% in 2022 and 9.5% to start 2023.

“High valuations, coupled with limited availability of capital, are likely contributing to this decline in share of deal activity,” authors said of deals from independent players.

BroadStreet Partners leads with 14 announcements year to date, followed by Risk Strategies Company at 11 and Hub International at 10. That top-three list accounted for 25.5% of the total deals. The top ten buyers combined for 50.5% of all announced transactions.

Insurers and an unspecified catch-all for ‘others’ accounted for six deals during the first four months, the dataset suggested.

Did you get value from this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.