According to investment banking and financial consulting firm OPTIS Partners, the total number of insurance agency mergers and acquisitions by the end of September 2024 was down 10% compared to the same period in 2023. OPTIS Partners’ M&A database recorded 535 announced deals in the first nine months of 2024, a decrease from 594 deals by September 30 of the previous year. The deal count for the first three quarters was also 13% below the average for the past five years. However, there was a 14% increase in deal activity in the third quarter of 2024 compared to the second quarter, with 198 transactions.
Steve Germundson, a partner at OPTIS, noted that after six consecutive quarters of declining deal counts, there have now been two quarters of increasing activity. “While two quarters do not a trend make, we believe that we’re at or near the bottom of the deal-flow trough,” Germundson stated.
OPTIS anticipates significant transactions in the next 12-15 months, citing recent examples such as Marsh & McLennan’s $7.75 billion acquisition of McGriff Insurance Services and IMA Financial’s purchase of Wallace Welch & Willingham. BroadStreet Partners led the year-to-date transaction count with 68 deals, a 50% increase from the previous year. Hub International and Inszone followed with 39 and 38 deals, respectively, while Patriot Growth nearly doubled its transactions to 32. Among the 87 different buyers in the first nine months of 2024, 25 made their first deal, and about 70 completed fewer than 10 transactions.
OPTIS also highlighted that private equity-backed and hybrid buyers accounted for 73% of all acquisitions over the past 12 months, while publicly held brokers and other buyers made up 10% of the deals. The firm, based in Chicago, continues to monitor these trends closely as the market evolves.
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