Category: M&A Summary

A year-end review of Merger & Acquisition activity in December of 2019.

A review of Merger & Acquisition activity in September of 2019.

A review of Merger & Acquisition activity in June of 2019.

A review of Merger & Acquisition activity in March of 2019.

A review of Merger & Acquisition activity in December of 2018.

A review of Merger & Acquisition activity in September of 2018.

A review of Merger & Acquisition activity in June of 2018.

A review of Merger & Acquisition activity in the first quarter of 2018.

A look back at Merger & Acquisition activity in 2017.

Insurance agency Merger & Acquisition (“M&A”) transactions continued the highly active pace during the 3rd quarter with a total of 132 reported sales and was the third highest quarterly total, behind only Q1- and Q2-2017.

Insurance agency Merger & Acquisition (“M&A”) activity exploded during the 1st Quarter (“Q1”) of 2017 with 185 reported transactions in the US and Canada and continued the stampede during the 2nd quarter with 135 transactions. The Q1-2017 activity was impacted, in part, from the formation of Alera Group, a new private-equity (“PE”) backed firm that closed 24 separate deals on January 1, 2017, but it was still a record-setting pace without the Alera transactions.

Insurance agency Merger & Acquisition (“M&A”) activity exploded during the 1st Quarter (“Q1”) of 2017 with 178 reported transactions in the US and Canada, up from 115 reported transactions in Q1-2016. The growth was impacted, in part, from the formation of Alera Group, a new private-equity backed firm that closed 24 separate deals on January 1, 2017. Notwithstanding this unique transaction, the number of Q1 transactions would still have out-paced any previous quarterly period.

M&A Activity during 2016 fell just short of the 2015 count, with reported transactions in the US and Canada down slightly from 456 in 2015 to 449 in 2016, but still the second highest level of M&A activity on record.

M&A Activity continues to expand through the 3rd Quarter, 2016, with reported transactions in the US and Canada up from 338 in 2015 to 344 in 2016, with the Trailing 12-Month (“TTM”) totals now at 461 transactions.

While brokers’ merger and acquisition (M&A) activity fell short of setting any records during the first half of 2016, buyers and sellers continued to feed their hearty appetites for deals and push up the M&A activity trend line. First-half 2016 activity dropped nominally to 232 announced deals from 233 during the same period last year, yet the first two quarters this year rank as the second-most active six-month period since OPTIS began tracking M&A transactions in 2008.

Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity again reached record levels in 2015 and provided further evidence of
a steady, entrenched shift in buyer dynamics. PE-backed buyers were responsible for virtually all of the
year-over-year growth, while P&C agencies dominated the seller category.

The previous record of reported mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) from 2012 was surpassed in 2014 as nearly every sector in the marketplace saw increases.

From the historic high level of M&A activity in 2012, 2013 marked a return to normal levels as buyers assimilated all their 2012 deals and they began to refill the pipeline of potential target sellers. Sellers, conversely, dealt with lower net sales consideration due to higher capital gains tax rates effective January 1, 2013.