Willis North America, a unit of Willis Group Holdings plc WSH acquired Evolution Benefits Consulting to boost its Human Capital Practice. However, the terms of the deal remain undisclosed.
Malvern, PA based Evolution Benefits Consulting is a health and welfare benefit advisory firm founded in 2001. The company provides services to employers of education, government, health care, financial services, manufacturing and religious organizations.
The acquired company will be merged with Willis of Pennsylvania, Inc. Hence, adding Evolution Benefits Consulting to its portfolio will help the company to widen its presence in the human capital space in Pennsylvania. With benefit consulting on the rise, the acquisition seems a strategic fit for the company.
In a separate development, Willis Group completed its investment in Miller Insurance Services LLP. The investment was made through a leading London-based wholesale specialist insurance broking firm. Per the transaction, the wholesale businesses of each company will trade under the Miller brand, and will not only be separate legal entities but will also be separate Lloyd’s brokers.
Willis Group is now also a corporate member in Miller by virtue of its 85% stake in the partnership. Moreover, Willis and Miller will swap their complementary businesses as well as certain broking activities. While wholesale broking activities of Willis will move to Miller, the latter’s treaty reinsurance, U.K. Corporate client and Financial Institutions’ retail teams will transfer to Willis.
Willis Group has been adopting the inorganic route over the last several years. Its strategic acquisitions have also expanded its geographical footprint in countries like Italy, Canada, the U.K. and France.
After delivering a negative surprise in the last reported quarter, the Zack Consensus Estimate has moved down as most of the estimates have been revised lower in the last 60 days. It decreased about 2% to $2.55 for 2015 and 3.2% to $3.01 for 2016. The stock presently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). However with optimism over the recent acquisitions we expect the analysts to pull their estimates up and exert an upward pressure on Zacks Rank.
Following the inorganic route to ramp up one’s operational profile seems a well-accepted strategy among insurers as acquisitions rage this space. Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, a subsidiary of Marsh LLC MMC recently acquired Texas-based MHBT Inc. Last month, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. AJG acquired James R. Weir Insurance Agency, Inc. to benefit from the latter’s strong foothold in Minnesota and its solid industry relationship. Also, a subsidiary of Brown & Brown Inc. BRO acquired certain assets of Bellingham Underwriters last month.
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