- Brown & Brown agreed to buy Accession Risk Management (parent of Risk Strategies and One80) for about $9.8 billion in cash and stock, closing Aug. 1, 2025.
- Accession generated about $1.7 billion of 2024 pro forma revenue and placed roughly $15.7 billion in premiums, with Risk Strategies contributing most revenue.
- Brown & Brown will fold Risk Strategies into its Retail segment and create a new Specialty Distribution segment to house One80 and related businesses.
- The deal underscores insurance-brokerage consolidation as firms pursue scale, specialty capabilities, and broader distribution amid rising complexity and competition.
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The Brown & Brown–Accession deal marks one of the largest mergers in the U.S. insurance brokerage industry to date. Valued at roughly US$9.8–9.83 billion, the transaction is a mix of cash and stock payments, aimed at capturing a wide array of strategic benefits. Upon closing (officially completed on August 1, 2025), Brown & Brown obtains Accession’s specialty brokerage (Risk Strategies) and wholesale/programs business (One80), moving to integrate them into its organizational structure via its Retail and newly formed Specialty Distribution segments.
Financially, the deal adds significant scale: Accession placed over US$15.7 billion in premiums in 2024, delivered pro forma revenue of around US$1.7 billion, and had more than 5,000 professionals across North America. Risk Strategies accounted for approximately three-quarters of Accession’s revenue. The acquisition is expected to be mid-teens accretive to Brown & Brown’s 2024 adjusted diluted earnings per share.
Strategically, this move gives Brown & Brown enhanced breadth in specialty lines, wholesale brokerage, and program management—areas of growing importance as clients demand more complex risk solutions. The combination allows Brown & Brown to leverage Accession’s entrepreneurial M&A culture (more than 190 firms joined Accession since 2014) and expand its relationships with carriers.
Contextually, this purchase aligns with broader sector-wide consolidation. Competitors such as Aon, Gallagher, and Marsh McLennan have made mega‐deals in recent years (e.g., Aon–NFP and Gallagher–AssuredPartners), aiming to scale, diversify offerings, and ingest specialty expertise. Macro trends—higher interest rates, regulatory complexity, rising costs for underwriting, distribution, and technology—mean scale is increasingly a competitive asset.
Risks include integration friction: combining cultural DNA, retaining talent, avoiding redundancy, and aligning systems. Financially, issuing large stock, raising debt, or equity to fund the deal can strain balance sheets. Also, with Brown & Brown already sizable, potential regulatory scrutiny and carrier conflicts may emerge. Open questions include how quickly revenue synergies, specialty cross‐selling, and margin improvement will materialize, and how this positions Brown & Brown relative to global brokers expanding specialty or digital capabilities.
Supporting Notes
- Deal value is US$9.8–9.83 billion (cash + stock) to acquire Accession Risk Management, parent of Risk Strategies and One80 Intermediaries.
- Deal financing includes approximately US$8.1 billion cash and US$1.3 billion in Brown & Brown stock.
- Accession’s pro forma 2024 revenue ~US$1.7 billion; premiums placed ~US$15.7 billion; Risk Strategies revenue likely ~US$1.24 billion (~73 % share).
- Accession has over 5,000 insurance professionals across US and Canada; Risk Strategies ranked 11th on Insurance Journal’s 2024 Top 100 P/C Agencies list.
- Upon closing, Risk Strategies joins Brown & Brown’s Retail segment led by John Mina; One80 etc. into new Specialty Distribution segment led by Steve Boyd and Chris Walker; Matt Power to leadership of the new segment.
- Expected to be accretive to 2024 adjusted diluted net income per share; mid‐teens earnings accretion projected.
- Brown & Brown’s global revenue prior to deal is ~US$4.3 billion, making this a sizable acquisition relative to its existing base.
- Over 190 companies have been acquired into the Accession platform since 2014.