Insurance Agency M&A Falls 12% in 2025

• By: AnneMarie McPherson Spears
• January 29, 2026

Independent insurance agency mergers & acquisitions activity slowed last year, with 695 deals in 2025, down 12% from 2024, according to OPTIS Partners, a financial consulting and investment banking firm specializing in the insurance industry. The number of buyers has continued to shrink since 2021, falling to 95 in 2025 compared to 104 in 2024.

Several of the most active acquirers over the past decade showed signs of slowing, while emerging firms are accelerating. Broadstreet led buyers with 69 deals in 2025, down 23% from 2024. Hub International had 49 deals, down 20% from 2024; and Inszone had 45 deals, down 6%. Meanwhile, World Insurance Services had 34, up 113%; Keystone Agency Partners had 32, up 10%; ALKEME had 27, up 29%; and King Risk Partners had 22, up 22%.

Private equity (PE)-backed brokers also slowed purchase activity by 10% in 2025, falling 23% below the five-year average. Publicly traded brokers completed 27% less purchases in 2025, and privately owned firms were 9% lower in 2025. Hybrid buyers accounted for 73% of last year’s transactions and 69%-75% transactions in any given quarter over the last seven years.

The number of unique buyers continues to fall. The number of PE brokers has increased by 78% since 2015, while public brokers, private firms, insurance companies, banks, and others have collectively declined by a third over the past decade.

“The story of 2025 is more like that of 2019 than any year since then,” said Steve Germundson, partner at OPTIS Partners. “Similarities include an annual deal pace between 650 and 700 and a relatively even distribution of deals throughout the year. In fact, 2019 and 2025 are the only years when the Q4 deal volume was lower than the other quarters and December was not the busiest month for closings.”

However, some large transactions made headlines, with 2025 seeing six acquisitions over $25 million in revenue. Arthur J. Gallagher purchased AssuredPartners in January and Woodruff Sawyer in April, and The Baldwin Group purchased CAC Group in December. The same month, WTW agreed to buy the San Francisco-based broker Newfront.

Looking ahead, OPTIS Partners noted that—with 30,000 independent agencies under $1.25 million in revenue, many of which lack the ability to perpetuate—consolidation is likely to continue. It also predicted several more large transactions and recapitalizations.  

AnneMarie McPherson Spears is IA news editor.