Mergers & Acquisitions

Although agency mergers & acquisition activity was down 15% in the first half of 2026, signaling a more disciplined environment, appetite for high-quality acquisitions remains high.

Agency mergers & acquisitions activity slowed to 148 deals in the first quarter of 2026, according to OPTIS Partners, who believe the decline is bottoming out.

Agency mergers & acquisitions activity slowed to 695 deals in 2025, according to OPTIS Partners, with the number of buyers continuing to fall since 2021.

Beazley’s board unanimously rejected Zurich’s offer, the fifth in the past year, saying it “materially undervalues” the company.

WTW has agreed to buy the San Francisco-based broker Newfront, in a move to expand its high-growth reach in the U.S.

The Baldwin Group and CAC Group have agreed to merge, which will create one of the largest independent insurance advisory and distribution platforms in the U.S.

2025 has told a tale of two very different market realities for public brokers. Here’s what that means for agency mergers & acquisitions.

Independent insurance agency mergers and acquisitions slowed in the first three quarters of 2025, a 7% decrease from the same period in 2024.

Marsh McLennan announced it is changing its brand to Marsh, effective January 2026. The company has also created a new unit to centralize investments in operations, data, artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics.

The acquisition of Cytora, a U.K.-based digital risk processing company, will allow Applied to accelerate its vision of delivering a connected end-to-end policy lifecycle.