The purpose of this compilation is to help our readers take stock of the consolidation of the marketplace both within Massachusetts and New England. As stated in previous versions of this listing, the majority of purchases and sales occurring in our region involved locally owned and operated agencies. There are now many more national buyers entering this marketplace, particularly World Insurance Associates, Acrisure, Hub, Alera Group, and The Hilb Group just to name a few.
Since not every purchase and sale is announced to us, however, this list includes only the transactions that Agency Checklists has been made aware of or that were announced publicly.
Our proprietary list of purchases and sales of insurance agencies in New England
Based on our proprietary data for Q4-2023, here is a snapshot of the trends in insurance agency acquisitions in Massachusetts. It should be noted that in comparison to national merger & acquisition activity in 2023, Massachusetts and New England did not experience an overall dip in acquisition activity last year.
- There were a total of 10 insurance agency mergers and acquisitions announced in New England in Q4- 2023.
- While nationally there was a dip in Merger & Acquisition activity in 2023, in New England there was a total of 37 announced deals in 2023.
- Overall, the biggest deal of the year was the sale of one of Massachusetts’s largest independent agencies, Eastern Insurance, to Gallagher in a sale worth five-times commission.
Agencies Sold in 2023
The following is a list of the transactions featured in Agency Checklists during the first three quarters of 2023. In addition, due to popular demand, we are now including transactions from in and around New England. As always, if you know of a sale of an insurance agency not listed here, whether in Massachusetts or one of the New England states, please help us keep this list as accurate as possible by letting us know here.
Please note, any title with an * means that the update was sent to us but was not an officially announced transaction on which we reported.
January 2023 (Q1)
Patriot Growth Insurance Grows New England Presence With RI Partnership
Hilb Group Expands in RI With OceanPoint Insurance Acquisition
February 2023 (Q1)
Bearce Insurance Agency Joins World Insurance Associates
Duffy Insurance Agency Acquires B&M Insurance Agency In Wakefield
Kaplansky Insurance Acquires Bridge Insurance
New Bedford’s Tomlinson & O’Neil Joins World Insurance Associates
March 2023 (Q1)
Aronson Insurance Acquires LJM Insurance Agency
Salem Five Insurance Acquires Nichols Insurance Agency Inc.
World Picks Up Another Two Agencies In New England
April 2023 (Q2)
World Welcomes Worcester’s Thomas J. Woods Insurance Agency
Sabatino Insurance Agency Acquires The Mastrocola Insurance Agency
Hilb Group Grows New England Property And Casualty Presence
May 2023 (Q2-2023)
Duffy Insurance Agency Acquires Boyd-Neelon Insurance Agency Of Sudbury Mass
Patriot Growth Insurance Services Expands Its Network In Massachusetts
Kaplansky Insurance Acquires Seekonk’s Crosstown Insurance
June 2023 (Q2-2023)
Wm F. Borhek & B. R. Alexander Agencies Join World Insurance Associates
BayCoast Insurance Announces Its Acquisition Of E.P. Tremblay And Sons Insurance Agency, Inc.
Cross Insurance Acquires The North Shore’s Daly Insurance
July 2023 (Q3-2023)
Smith Brothers Advances Massachusetts Growth with Rawson & Sons Acquisition
Beverly Merger: Sterling Ins. Buys The Morgan-McPherson Agency
August 2023 (Q3-2023)
Hub New England Welcomes Worcester’s Horizon Insurance
Cross Acquires Greenberg, Rhein & Margolis, Inc. – Connecticut*
September 2023 (Q3-2023)
Gallagher Snaps Up Eastern In Sale Worth 5-Times Commissions
Salem Five Insurance Acquires Philbin Insurance Group
Cross Acquires The Russell D. Patten Insurance Agency, LLC of Maine*
Cross Acquires Costello New Hampshire Insurance Agency, Inc.*
October 2023 (Q4-2023)
Alden C. Goodnow Insurance Agency Acquires Inlign Insurance
Another North Shore Agency Acquisition For Duffy Insurance
Cross Insurance Acquires Advocate Brokerage of New York*
November 2023 (Q4-2023)
Cross Insurance Acquires Massachusetts’ Sculos & Santilli Insurance Agency, Inc.*
Growth Continues At Duffy Insurance With Addition Of The DeAngelis Trinity Insurance Agency
Archetype Acquisition Is The 43rd For Kaplansky Insurance
December 2023 (Q4-2023)
Cross Insurance Acquires the Paul Insurance Agency in Massachusetts*
IMA Financial Group Expands In Mass. With EBS Insurance Brokers Purchase
New England’s Foy Insurance Joins World Insurance Associates
Patriot Growth Insurance Services Expands Footprint In New England Region
For those interested in taking a look at the national trends in insurance agency mergers and acquisition activity, please refer to our companion piece entitled, “Q4-2023 Results Bodes Well For 2024 Agency Sales Activity.“