The acquisition adds to Navacord’s strategy to expand operations in the Canadian employee benefit and pension space
Image: Navacord acquires SmartChoice Benefits. Photo: Courtesy of IndypendenZ/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Navacord Corp., a leading Canadian insurance and risk management brokerage, is pleased to announce the addition of Ontario-based SmartChoice Benefits Inc., effective December 12, 2019.
Focused on developing group benefits products for more than 25 years, SmartChoice provides affordable, comprehensive benefit plan options tailored to niche business segments that have been traditionally underserved by the group insurance market across Canada, including contracted employees, small businesses and franchises. With the addition of SmartChoice, Navacord is further expanding its employee benefits and pension offerings, which it sees as an organic evolution of its business strategy to providea more robust service offering to clients.
“We’ve invested considerably in designing and building benefits packages that make it easy and affordable for our clients to offer the comprehensive coverage they need to be competitive in the market,” says Zeke Oudeh, Founder & CEO of SmartChoice. “Joining Navacord provides us with additional infrastructure and the strength of a national company that will help take our business to the next level.”Navacord saw the opportunity to further expand its expertise and risk management approach and, thanks to a unique ownership and operating model, the company has now attracted a strong pipeline of businesses that specialize in employee benefits and pensions.
SmartChoice also provides an opportunity for Navacord to enter the third-party administration space and creates a strong overlap to commercial group and transportation segments for significant cross-selling between the businesses.
“The addition of SmartChoice adds to our breadth of sector expertise and exclusive products, to ensure we continue providing our clients with the best advice and solutions tailored for their business needs,” said Shawn DeSantis, Navacord President & CEO. “It also shows our commitment to building the required scale, carrier relationships, industry leading products and technology solutions to place us among the leaders in the Canadian market for employee benefit and pensions.”
Navacord was founded in 2004 and has grown to be the fifth largest commercial broker in Canada offering clients a holistic solution that addresses business, personal and employee needs.
Source: Company Press Release