ACQUISITION TARGETS BY TYPE
• Fifty-nine percent of respondents to the survey expressed an interest in acquiring other
PAs/MGAs, while 44 percent would prefer to acquire carriers. Both figures showed five percent increases since the 2008 survey.
• Interest in wholesalers, on the other hand, has decreased, with only 13 percent of respondents targeting them this year, compared to 23 percent in 2008.
• Five percent of respondents to the 2009 survey are considering acquiring third-party administrators, while the 2008 survey indicated little to no interest in this segment.
FUNDING SOURCES
• To fund acquisitions, the majority of respondents plan to use company funds to make acquisitions (56 percent, compared to 54 percent in the 2008 survey), though company
stock also remains a popular source (23 percent).
• The use of institutions as funding sources for M&A has declined sharply in 2009, largely as a result of the worldwide financial crisis. In 2008, 27 percent of respondents indicated an interest in working with private equity partners, while another eight percent listed banks as a financing source. This year, the same sources only garnered only three percent and five percent, respectively.
According to John Barrows, Program Manager Solutions Specialty Practice, Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, “Because this is a relatively mature segment of the insurance industry, growth through acquisition or merger remains one of the key methods for achieving growth and building a larger book of business. This trend has been further spurred by the downward pricing trends we have witnessed, coupled with the general lack of significant top- and bottom-line growth. In what is currently a buyer’s market for insurance, M&A activity among PAs and MGAs merits close attention for the remainder of the year as we move into 2010.”