Brown & Brown Inc. said it has entered into an agreement to buy Accession Risk Management, the parent company of specialty brokerage firm Risk Strategies and wholesaler One80 Intermediaries, for about $9.8 billion.
Daytona Beach, Florida-based Brown & Brown will purchase RSC Topco Inc., the holding company for Boston-based Accession—one of the largest privately held brokerages in the U.S.
Risk Strategies ranked 11th on Insurance Journal‘s 2024 Top 100 Property/Casualty Agencies list.
After the close of the transaction, expected in the third quarter, the Risk Strategies team will become part of Brown & Brown’s retail segment. Accession CEO John Mina will join the retail senior leadership team.
On the programs and wholesale brokerage side, Brown & Brown said it will create a new specialty distribution segment to be led by Steve Boyd and Chris Walker. One80 will join the specialty distribution segment, with Matt Power joining the segment’s senior leadership team.
Accession, founded in 1997, has more than 5,300 employees in the U.S. and Canada, and reported revenue of about $1.7 billion in 2024. Risk Strategies’ most recent entry to be listed as one of IJ’s Top 100 P/C Agencies indicated it had total 2024 P/C revenue of about $1.3 billion. Total premiums written last year was $8.55 billion, with about $7.8 billion in commercial lines premiums.
“Combining with Risk Strategies and One80 represents a unique opportunity to bring the best of both organizations to the forefront, enabling us to augment and strengthen our collective growth,” said J. Powell Brown, president and CEO of Brown & Brown, in a statement June 10.
“The brokerage business built by Mike Christian and John Mina and the wholesaler and program manager business built by Matthew F. Power bring complementary and added capabilities that, when aligned with the broader Brown & Brown organization, further position us to extend our reach and consistently deliver for our customers through enhanced market relationships and expanded offerings,” Brown added. “We are confident we will be better together as a combined organization.”
“As we began contemplating the next major leap in our journey, we were adamant that any potential partner must have the capability and conviction to strengthen our ability to create an industry powerhouse, win amid industry consolidation, lead through innovation and champion our cultural values,” said Mina. “We are pleased to have found that in Brown & Brown.
Brown & Brown, the seventh largest global broker with nearly $4.3 billion in revenue, according to AM Best’s 2024 ranking, enters the recent M&A action from the world’s top brokers. Arthur J. Gallagher made headlines with its agreement to acquire AssuredPartners for $13.45 billion cash to expand its reach in the U.S. middle-market, but it was the third of the three big brokers to announce or wrap up large acquisitions in 2024. Last November Marsh McLennan completed the purchase of McGriff Insurance Services for $7.75 billion. In April, Aon completed a $13 billion acquisition of middle-market P/C broker NFP.
This year, Arthur J. Gallagher completed a buy of Woodruff Sawyer for $1.2 billion.
According to investment banking and financial consulting firm OPTIS Partners, the first quarter 2025 was the slowest quarter for insurance agency mergers and acquisitions since Q2 2020. However, the firm thought the Gallagher-Woodruff Sawyer deal was a sign of more “mega deals” in 2025.
Topics
Mergers & Acquisitions
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