US professional services firm Marsh & McLennan (MMC) has completed a $5.6bn acquisition of British insurance and reinsurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT).
Image: Marsh & McLennan wraps up acquisition of JLT. Photo: courtesy of rawpixel/Pixabay.
The merger between MMC and JLT secured approval from the European Commission (EC) in March 2019, which marked the completion of all the regulatory processes. It was eventually completed after the UK High Court’s approval.
MMC said that the acquisition advances its leading position in insurance and reinsurance brokerage, health and retirement, with presence in more than 130 countries.
The merged company will offer advice and solutions for more than $100bn of annual property/casualty insurance and reinsurance premiums written across the world.
The merger is said to consolidate MMC’s attempts at expanding into faster-growing geographies and market segments, invest in data and analytics, and boost its capabilities in insurance brokerage, retirement and benefits.
MMC president and CEO Dan Glaser said: “Today marks the beginning of a new era with Marsh & McLennan and JLT coming together. This is a combination of strength and strength, and the primary focus is growth – in talent, capabilities, revenue and earnings.”
As per the terms of the deal announced in September 2018, shareholders of JLT will be issued £19.15 ($24.96) per share in cash from the US company.
JLT was established in 1997 by the merger of Jardine Insurance Brokers and Lloyd Thompson Group. The British insurance and reinsurance broker operates in 40 countries and in particular has a strong footprint in the UK and Australia.
Its specialty business provides risk and insurance broking advice to multiple industries such as energy, mining, healthcare, construction, marine and aerospace.
JLT Re, the company’s reinsurance business, provides risk analysis and risk transfer solutions to its insurer clients in all classes of treaty and facultative reinsurance.
To secure the EC approval for the merger with MMC, the British firm entered into a deal in March 2019 to offload its global aerospace insurance broking business to Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (Gallagher) for a sum of nearly £190m.