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Arthur J. Gallagher Adds Hill, Chesson & Woody to Portfolio

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Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG - Free Report) recently declared that it has purchased Hill, Chesson & Woody (“HCW”) to enhance and extend its employee benefits consulting and brokerage services in the Southeast region of the U.S. The financial details of the transaction were kept under wraps.

Durham, NC-based HCW was established in 2000 and operates as a full-service employee benefits consulting firm. The acquired company assists its commercial clients in combining their benefit programs with their overall corporate objectives. Moreover, the employee benefits consulting firm helps clients in the management and implementation of such benefit programs by providing brokerage, health management, compliance, underwriting and administrative services. HCW caters to the needs of clients across the Southeast region of the U.S. and hence, would further boost the already robust inorganic growth portfolio of the acquirer. Post takeover, HCW will continue to operate from its current location.

We expect HCW’s in-depth benefits consulting expertise and capability to estimate and offer benefit solutions to be highly value accretive to the acquirer’s client portfolio. This apart, the acquiree’s superior quality services, similar sales culture to the acquirer, excellent market relationships, and commitment toward high-quality customer outcomes will complement Arthur J. Gallagher’s employee benefits consulting and insurance brokerage services.

The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) insurance broker is known for improving its growth profile through acquisitions. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here. Most of its buyouts are within the brokerage segment. Nonetheless, Arthur J. Gallagher has increased purchases in the retail employee benefits brokerage and wholesale brokerage sectors. The brokerage service provider intends to pursue smaller tuck-in mergers in 2017.

Notably, shares of Arthur J. Gallagher gained 5.81% in the last three months, outperforming the Zacks categorized Insurance Broker industry’s growth of about 3.50%. Strategic acquisitions like these have mainly contributed to the outperformance, which in turn, have improved the insurance broker’s inorganic portfolio as well as accelerated growth.


Acquisitions are a well-accepted strategy for growth among insurers. Recently, Assurant, Inc. (AIZ - Free Report) inked a deal to buy Green Tree Insurance Agency, Inc. from Walter Investment Management Corp. to strengthen its capabilities in the housing market. Brown & Brown, Inc. (BRO - Free Report) , on the other hand, announced that its unit has acquired the commercial MGA operations of Insurance House.

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