Deals for property & casualty and benefits brokers in US and Canada slip but include purchases of four firms with $268 million to $2.9 billion in revenues, OPTIS Partners report
MINNEAPOLIS —January 21, 2026—The pace of M&A activity slowed in 2025 as the number of buyers has continued to shrink since 2021—both signs of the industry’s consolidation, according to OPTIS Partners, an investment banking and financial consulting firm specializing in the insurance industry.
Firms announced 695 insurance agency mergers and acquisitions in 2025, down 12% from 2024, the OPTIS Partners database revealed.
“The story of 2025 is more like that of 2019 than any year since then,” said Steve Germundson, partner at OPTIS Partners. “Similarities include an annual deal pace between 650 and 700 and a relatively even distribution of deals throughout the year. In fact, 2019 and 2025 are the only years when the Q4 deal volume was lower than the other quarters and December was not the busiest month for closings,” he said.
“For the third consecutive year, there was no mad dash to close deals at year-end. The M&A market continues in a steady, albeit slowing state,” said Tim Cunningham, managing partner.
Private-equity backed firms lead buyers
OPTIS Partners tracks buyers by four groups: private equity-backed/hybrid buyers, privately held brokers, publicly held brokers, and all others.
The private equity-backed/hybrid buyers continued to dominate, accounting for 73% of all acquisitions. Besides insurance brokers such as BroadStreet, these buyers now include institutional investors such as family offices, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds.
“Notably, the private-equity-backed broker subgroup announced 11% fewer deals,” Germundson.
Privately held brokers announced 9% fewer acquisitions, while publicly held brokers did 27% fewer deals.
BroadStreet and Hub lead buyers
BroadStreet Partners, a PE/hybrid broker, led the pack with 69 acquisitions, down from 90 in 2024. It was followed by Hub International with 49 deals versus 61 in 2024 and Inszone Insurance Services, 45 deals versus 48. Leavitt Group was the only privately held broker to crack the top 10 list, with 29 deals announced in 2025. Ten firms did 20 or more deals in 2025.
Megadeals included Arthur J. Gallagher acquiring San Francisco-based Woodruff Sawyer ($268 million in revenues) and Assured Partners ($2.9 billion in revenues) in Daytona Beach, Fla. Brown & Brown bought Boston-based Accession Risk Management ($1.7 billion in revenues) while The Baldwin Group purchased CAC Group, based in Denver and Birmingham ($282 million in revenues).
Valuations stay high
“We expect more large deals and recapitalizations in 2026 as the chase for scale continues,” Cunningham said. “This will continue to benefit the better sellers, whose valuations should remain at their current heady levels, absent a major change in the underlying economy or the insurance marketplace.”
The number of unique buyers in 2025 totaled 95, which is 9% lower than the 104 reported for 2024.
P&C sellers get bulk of interest
Property & casualty insurance agency sellers accounted for 455 of the total 695 transactions (66%), while 94 employee benefits specialists’ deals totaled 13%. Agents selling both property & casualty and employee benefits insurance accounted for 9% of deals, while the all other category accounted for 12%.
The full report can be read at https://optisins.com/wp/2026/01/2025-ma-report.
About OPTIS Partners
Focused exclusively on the insurance-distribution marketplace, Minneapolis-based OPTIS Partners offers merger & acquisition representation for buyers and sellers, including due-diligence reviews. It provides appraisals of fair market value; financial-performance review, including trend analysis and internal controls; and ownership transition and perpetuation planning.
