ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. — Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG) today announced an agreement to acquire certain Willis Towers Watson plc reinsurance, specialty and retail brokerage operations as part of a proposed regulatory remedy for the pending Aon plc and Willis Towers Watson plc combination. The transaction is expected to close during the second half of 2021.
“This acquisition will accelerate our long-term strategy by significantly expanding our global value proposition in reinsurance, broadening our retail brokerage footprint and strengthening key niches and specialty brokerage offerings,” said J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO. “The powerful combination of expertise, geographic reach and scale that this acquisition presents will greatly enhance our offerings to clients and prospects, while also providing significant value for our colleagues, carrier partners and shareholders. Most importantly, I look forward to welcoming more than 6,000 new colleagues to our growing Gallagher family of professionals.”
Benefits of the acquisition are expected to include:
- Expanded global value proposition within reinsurance brokerage
- Broadened global footprint in retail property casualty and health & benefits brokerage
- Increased depth in key niches and specialty operations such as energy, construction, cyber, space, and aerospace products
- A comprehensive suite of analytics capabilities including catastrophe modeling, dynamic financial analysis, rating agency analysis and capital modeling
- Stronger relationships with major insurance carriers and new relationships with middle market and large account retail clients
- Added platforms for future tuck-in acquisitions
Acquired Operations
The combined operations, which include certain of Willis Re’s treaty and facultative reinsurance brokerage operations, as well as certain U.K. specialty, European and North American brokerage operations, generated $1.3 billion of estimated pro forma revenue and $357 million of estimated pro forma EBITDAC, in each case for the year ended December 31, 2020. These pro forma 2020 estimates incorporate potential revenue breakage (as defined below), as well as normalization of operating expenses and additional necessary investments.
Reinsurance Brokerage
The reinsurance brokerage operations, which include both treaty and facultative reinsurance, generated approximately $750 million of estimated pro forma revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020. The business represents over 750 insurance and reinsurance company clients, across more than 25 countries, and places over $11.5 billion of premium annually.
United Kingdom / European Brokerage
The U.K. and European brokerage operations generated approximately $500 million of estimated pro forma revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020. European retail brokerage includes certain operations in Germany, Netherlands, Spain and France, including the vast majority of French insurance broker, Gras Savoye. Specialty operations in the U.K principally include cyber, space and aerospace products.
North American Brokerage
The North American brokerage operations generated approximately $50 million of estimated pro forma revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020. This includes certain property/casualty brokerage business from predominantly middle-market and large-account clients located in select markets such as San Francisco, Houston and Bermuda, across niches such as construction and energy.
Key Transaction Terms
Under the agreement, Gallagher will acquire the combined operations for gross consideration of $3.57 billion. Gallagher expects to finance the transaction using a combination of long-term debt, short-term borrowings, free cash and common equity. The final funding contemplates Gallagher maintaining its investment grade debt rating.
Integration is expected to take approximately 3 years with total non-recurring integration costs estimated to be approximately $350 million. After giving effect to these assumptions and pro forma results discussed above, the acquired operations would have been approximately 9% to 11% accretive to Gallagher’s 2020 adjusted GAAP EPS excluding earnings from clean energy investments (see table for 2020 non-GAAP reconciliation).
Other Acquisition Transaction Information
The transaction is subject to European Commission, U.S. Department of Justice and other regulatory approvals, including regulatory approvals related to the pending Aon plc and Willis Towers Watson plc combination and the proposed remedy.
More information, including a presentation outlining the transaction, can be found on the company’s website at www.ajg.com. The estimates provided in this release and the presentation on the company’s website, may be updated before the transaction closes as more information becomes available.
Conference Call Information
In conjunction with this announcement, J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO, will host a conference call on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 at 9:00 am ET/ 8:00 am CT.
The conference call will be broadcast live through Gallagher’s website at www.ajg.com and a conference call replay will be available on the company’s website approximately one hour after the broadcast. The replay can be accessed by going to Investor Relations and clicking on Archived Presentations.
Breakage – Refers to Gallagher’s estimate of revenues and associated expenses reported in the acquired operations’ 2020 financial statements that has been lost since December 31, 2020 plus an estimate for clients that may not renew before the transaction closes and during the integration period and the departure of key brokers and other employees.
Other Cost Adjustments – In addition, specific costs have been identified as adjustments to the acquired operations’ 2020 financial statements in order to better reflect Gallagher’s estimate of pro forma EBITDAC. Specifically, these cost adjustments include the normalization of operating expenses to reflect the extraordinary impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and additional investments in operations attributed to the target business based on the estimated costs to provide specific services from the center.
Advisors
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and BofA Securities acted as financial advisors and Sidley Austin LLP acted as legal advisor to Gallagher on this transaction.
Source: Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
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