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Category >> Insurance MA

Feb 12
2009

The Changing Face of Insurance M&A

Posted by Clear Rock in Insurance MA
Now that we are clearly in the midst of a recession - no matter what metric you use or person you ask - the common theme of questioning has predictably drifted from “what will happen” towards “how far will it go” and “how long will it last.”

Clearly the broader economic environment is going to have an impact on the insurance world- and hence insurance M&A. From an economic standpoint, we
Feb 10
2009

Winter Insurance Newsletter Published

Posted by Clear Rock in Insurance MA

Clear Rock's Winter Insurance M&A newsletter is now available for download.

Inside we touch on a number of subjects, to include:

  • Changing Face of Agency M&A's
  • Where have bank buyers gone?
  • Big AJR, USI deals

Download the Insurance M&A

Feb 10
2009

Writedowns... Explained

Posted by Clear Rock in Transportation Acquisitions, Printing, Insurance MA, HVAC MA
One can't go an hour or two during this earnings season without hearing about yet another large write-down from a public company. On the private side, though, most smaller companies rarely take write downs- so we thought the concept might bear some explanation:

 

 


Feb 05
2009

Benefits Agencies: Why They’re Hot

Posted by Clear Rock in Insurance MA
The numbers from 2008 clearly bear out the trend: benefits agencies are moving at a faster rate than traditional P&C shops.

While the reasons are manifold, one key factor is the availability of solid agencies for traditional P&C buyers. After a several-years long buying spree, many of the best shops have been absorbed by banks and public brokers.

When combined with the soft P&C market,
Feb 03
2009

Blockbuster Deals for AJR, USI

Posted by Clear Rock in Insurance MA
Many thought that Arthur J. Gallagher and USI had been unusually quiet in during the end of 2008- but apparently they were both busy wrapping up a blockbuster deal with Liberty Mutual.

Both companies acquired the renewal rights and certain employees from Liberty’s middle market P&C group.

Interesting, here, is Liberty shedding their captive distribution channel. While they open
Jan 23
2009

Toxic Assets... Effecting More Than Just Wall Street

Posted by Clear Rock in Transportation Acquisitions, Printing, Insurance MA, AIG

As we head into earnings season (and into a new administration) we arebound to hear more and more about "toxic assets" and how they are impairing recovery for banks - and the economy as a whole.

Here is a little more on just what "toxic assets" means:

 

Dec 05
2008

Current Insurance M&A Valuations

Posted by Clear Rock in Insurance MA

We just wanted to provide a current glimpse at the insurance broker / agency M&A market. It's a question that we get asked time and again: what types of valuations are people paying?

Our experience is that, even in the current market, deal multiples have not suffered significantly. We have a series of transactions priced between 1.5x to 2.0x commissions. From an EBITDA perspective,

Nov 09
2008

Deal By Christmas

Posted by Clear Rock in Insurance MA

Clear Rock has several buyers that are seeking to squeeze in a deal to buy an insurance agency before the Holidays.  

Now that the election is over, and it seems more likely that capital gains taxes will rise in the next year, it is a great time to take advantage of not only getting a deal done, but  also allocating a portion of the price at the historically low 15% long term capital gains

Oct 09
2008

More AIG Troubles

Posted by Clear Rock in Insurance MA

Last night the Fed announced another $38bn infusion into AIG. Curious, of course, is how they decided to word the transaction: the Fed is "borrowing" certain assets in return for "cash collateral." While a cash collateral is a perfectly legitimate transaction structure, we believe that this is just a cumbersome attempt to obscure a second recapitalization of AIG in under 2 weeks.

Granted,

Oct 05
2008

More Trouble for AIG? (Already?)

Posted by Clear Rock in Insurance MA

In yet another scary missive about the state of AIG, the New York Times writes today that AIG had already drawn down $61b of their newly minted $85b line of credit. In concert, S&P has issued yet another warning on AIG.

All this calls into question whether the Fed's emergency intervention with AIG will be the end of the bail-out, or rather somewhere around half-time.

Of interest for Agencies,

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