Who is buying insurance agencies?
23 named consolidator platforms are actively acquiring US insurance agency businesses; 17 of them are private-equity-backed. Typical insurance agency acquisitions price at 4.3x-11x EBITDA (2.9x-4.3x SDE for smaller owner-operated businesses), per published ranges from Peak Business Valuation, BizBuySell and others. The most recent named acquisition tracked on this page closed in September 2026.
Why insurance agencies are consolidating
- •The number of US independent insurance agencies fell from about 39,000 in 2024 to about 37,000 in 2026, according to the Big "I" 2026 Agency Universe Study as reported by Insurance Journal.
- •Independent agents placed 62% of all US property/casualty premium in 2025, including 87.7% of commercial lines written premium, according to the Big "I" 2026 Market Share Report as reported by Insurance Journal.
- •Buyers announced 695 agent and broker acquisitions in North America in 2025, down 12% from 787 in 2024, and private-equity-backed or hybrid buyers completed 73% of them, according to OPTIS Partners.
- •The buyer pool is shrinking while the seller pool stays deep: 95 firms announced acquisitions in 2025, down from 104 in 2024, and by some estimates over 30,000 independent agencies have under $1.25 million in revenue, most with no ability to perpetuate, according to OPTIS Partners.
- •Deals fell to 292 in the first half of 2026, down 15% year over year, and four buyers (BroadStreet Partners, Inszone, Hub International and World Insurance Associates) accounted for 29% of trailing-12-month deal volume, according to OPTIS Partners as reported by Risk & Insurance.
The platforms consolidating insurance agencies
The named groups acquiring US insurance agency businesses, with their current owner and a source for each. Most grow through individual partnerships that are not separately disclosed; where a platform publishes named deals, recent ones are listed.
| Acquirer | Owner / backer | Type | Headquarters | Latest named deal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BroadStreet Partners | Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (significant co-control stake) and an investor group led by Ethos Capital, BCI and White Mountains Insurance Group | Private equity | Columbus, OH | — |
| HUB International | Hellman & Friedman (controlling); Altas Partners and Leonard Green & Partners (significant minority); a 2025 minority round led by T. Rowe Price, Alpha Wave Global and Temasek | Private equity | Chicago, IL | Jun 2025 |
| Inszone Insurance Services | BHMS Investments (since 2020) and Lightyear Capital (since 2023) | Private equity | Sacramento, CA | Aug 2026 |
| World Insurance Associates | Charlesbank Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs Asset Management (co-lead investors), with management and employee shareholders | Private equity | Iselin, NJ | Jun 2026 |
| Keystone Agency Partners | Warburg Pincus (majority); Bain Capital (minority, via Bain Capital Insurance) | Private equity | Mechanicsburg, PA | — |
| Leavitt Group | Privately held (Leavitt Group Enterprises), co-owning its agencies with local owners | Strategic / family-owned | Cedar City, UT | Dec 2025 |
| ALKEME Insurance | GCP Capital Partners (control, via a 2025 continuation vehicle anchored by Apollo S3), with management | Private equity | Ladera Ranch, CA | Jul 2026 |
| Highstreet Insurance Partners | Abry Partners (invested 2021; portfolio status: Current) | Private equity | Traverse City, MI | Jan 2025 |
| King Risk Partners | Lightyear Capital and BHMS Investments (Apr 2025 recapitalization), with management | Private equity | Gainesville, FL | Sep 2026 |
| Acrisure | Founder-led (Chairman and CEO Greg Williams), with outside investors; its 2025 $2.1B round was led by Bain Capital, with Fidelity, Apollo Funds, Gallatin Point Capital and BDT & MSD Partners (BDT & MSD is the largest minority shareholder) | Private equity | Grand Rapids, MI | — |
| Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. | Publicly traded (NYSE: AJG) | Strategic / public | Rolling Meadows, IL | May 2026 |
| Alera Group | Genstar Capital (founding sponsor); Carlyle led a $150M preferred investment in 2020 | Private equity | Deerfield, IL | Feb 2025 |
| Trucordia | Carlyle (a $1.3B Global Credit strategic investment, Jun 2025) and HGGC (per OPTIS) | Private equity | Lindon, UT | May 2026 |
| OneDigital | Stone Point Capital and CPP Investments (majority, closed Dec 4, 2025); Onex Partners (significant minority) | Private equity | Atlanta, GA | — |
| Marsh McLennan Agency | Marsh (NYSE: MRSH) | Strategic / public | White Plains, NY | Aug 2026 |
| Patriot Growth Insurance Services | GI Partners and Summit Partners | Private equity | Fort Washington, PA | Nov 2025 |
| Heffernan Insurance Brokers | Employee-owned since its 1988 founding | Employee-owned (ESOP) | Walnut Creek, CA | May 2026 |
| Hilb Group | The Carlyle Group | Private equity | Richmond, VA | — |
| USI Insurance Services | KKR and other shareholders; pending sale to Aon plc | Private equity | Valhalla, NY | — |
| Brown & Brown | Publicly traded (NYSE: BRO) | Strategic / public | Daytona Beach, FL | Aug 2025 |
| Relation Insurance Services | BayPine (agreed to buy it from Aquiline on Feb 18, 2026) | Private equity | Chicago, IL | Jun 2026 |
| Higginbotham | Employee-owned; Stone Point Capital holds a minority stake (since 2009; portfolio status Current) | Employee-owned (ESOP) | Fort Worth, TX | Jun 2026 |
| Insurance Office of America (IOA) | Madison Dearborn Partners and Navacord (new investors, Oct 2025), alongside IOA's producers and employees | Private equity | Longwood, FL | — |
BroadStreet Partners
Private equity- Owner
- Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (significant co-control stake) and an investor group led by Ethos Capital, BCI and White Mountains Insurance Group
- Headquarters
- Columbus, OH
- Scale
- 30+ Core Partners; 550+ tuck-in acquisitions to date; more than 800 agency professionals with equity
OPTIS counts it as the most active buyer: 69 deals in 2025 and 67 in the 12 months to June 2026. Its add-ons are done through partner agencies, and none were named in the sources read. The co-control holder is a pension fund, which OPTIS classes as PE/hybrid. The scale figures come from broadstreetpartners.com/about.
HUB International
Private equity- Owner
- Hellman & Friedman (controlling); Altas Partners and Leonard Green & Partners (significant minority); a 2025 minority round led by T. Rowe Price, Alpha Wave Global and Temasek
- Headquarters
- Chicago, IL
- Scale
- More than 19,000 employees (2025 releases); more than 600 acquisitions (WealthManagement.com, Sep 2026)
HUB confidentially submitted a draft S-1 for an IPO on Jun 26, 2026, and Bloomberg reported it was seeking about $3B. A Sep 28, 2026 WealthManagement.com report still described the IPO as planned. No pricing was found as of Oct 5, 2026. If it lists, its owner type changes.
Inszone Insurance Services
Private equity- Owner
- BHMS Investments (since 2020) and Lightyear Capital (since 2023)
- Headquarters
- Sacramento, CA
- Scale
- Offices in 25 states (listed in its Sep 2026 release)
OPTIS counted 45 deals in 2025, 57 in the 12 months to June 2026, and 33 in the first half of 2026 (that last figure via Insurance Business). Insurance Business (Aug 2026) also names BHMS and Lightyear as its backers.
World Insurance Associates
Private equity- Owner
- Charlesbank Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs Asset Management (co-lead investors), with management and employee shareholders
- Headquarters
- Iselin, NJ
- Scale
- Not disclosed (describes itself as a Top 50 insurance brokerage)
The dates shown are effective (closing) dates. World often announces deals months later; for example, Van Syckel closed Aug 1, 2025 and was announced Jun 25, 2026. OPTIS counted 34 deals in 2025.
Keystone Agency Partners
Private equity- Owner
- Warburg Pincus (majority); Bain Capital (minority, via Bain Capital Insurance)
- Headquarters
- Mechanicsburg, PA
- Scale
- 28 Platform Partners and over 350 independent network partners (Jul 2025)
The Warburg deal was announced Jul 16, 2025 and was expected to close in Q3 2025. OPTIS lists it as a completed July 2025 ownership change, but no closing release was read. OPTIS counted 32 deals in 2025. No named add-ons were captured.
Leavitt Group
Strategic / family-owned- Owner
- Privately held (Leavitt Group Enterprises), co-owning its agencies with local owners
- Headquarters
- Cedar City, UT
- Scale
- 80+ agencies and 290+ locations across 31 states
OPTIS ranks it the most active privately owned buyer (29 deals in 2025). The HQ comes from a Leavitt agency page that says the group is 'headquartered in Cedar City, Utah'. 'Family-owned' is the closest allowed type for a privately held firm co-owned with local owners. Its 2026 deals with Dolan & Edwards Insurance and RPS Benefits by Design ('Overland Park-based') are left out because the sources gave no full city and state.
ALKEME Insurance
Private equity- Owner
- GCP Capital Partners (control, via a 2025 continuation vehicle anchored by Apollo S3), with management
- Headquarters
- Ladera Ranch, CA
- Scale
- Over 90 locations in 30 states; over 80 acquisitions since 2020 (Jul 2026)
ALKEME announces deals in quarterly batches. The months shown are announcement months (Apr 1 and Jul 1, 2026), and each batch closed during the prior quarter. OPTIS counted 27 deals in 2025.
Highstreet Insurance Partners
Private equity- Owner
- Abry Partners (invested 2021; portfolio status: Current)
- Headquarters
- Traverse City, MI
- Scale
- 350+ local offices across the U.S.; 200+ acquisitions
The scale figures come from highstreetpartners.com/profile. No 2025-26 sale or recap was found. OPTIS counted 26 deals in 2025, but Risk & Insurance reports it fell below 20 deals in the 12 months to June 2026.
King Risk Partners
Private equity- Owner
- Lightyear Capital and BHMS Investments (Apr 2025 recapitalization), with management
- Headquarters
- Gainesville, FL
- Scale
- 36th largest U.S. insurance brokerage (per its Sep 2026 release)
It has the same backers as Inszone. OPTIS's Jan 2026 ownership appendix still lists BHMS alone. The Lightyear release itself was blocked (HTTP 403), so the Lightyear stake was confirmed from excerpts of it and from Davis Polk and The Insurer. OPTIS counted 22 deals in 2025.
Acrisure
Private equity- Owner
- Founder-led (Chairman and CEO Greg Williams), with outside investors; its 2025 $2.1B round was led by Bain Capital, with Fidelity, Apollo Funds, Gallatin Point Capital and BDT & MSD Partners (BDT & MSD is the largest minority shareholder)
- Headquarters
- Grand Rapids, MI
- Scale
- Over 19,000 colleagues in 23 countries; about 900 acquisitions
No source names a controlling owner, and OPTIS classes it as 'Management / Various PE Investors'. OPTIS counted 122 deals in 2021 but only 20 in 2025. No named US retail-agency add-ons from 2025-26 were captured.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
Strategic / public- Owner
- Publicly traded (NYSE: AJG)
- Headquarters
- Rolling Meadows, IL
- Scale
- Approximately 130 countries through owned operations and a network of correspondent brokers
Gallagher closed its purchase of the former PE platform AssuredPartners on Aug 18, 2025. OPTIS counted 18 Gallagher agency deals in 2025.
Alera Group
Private equity- Owner
- Genstar Capital (founding sponsor); Carlyle led a $150M preferred investment in 2020
- Headquarters
- Deerfield, IL
- Scale
- Not disclosed
Owner is medium confidence. Insurance Business (Jul 2026) and OPTIS (Jan 2026) both name Genstar, but no 2025-26 release from Alera or Genstar was found. Insurance Business also lists Flexpoint Ford as a backer, which no other source read confirms. OPTIS counted 18 deals in 2025.
Trucordia
Private equity- Owner
- Carlyle (a $1.3B Global Credit strategic investment, Jun 2025) and HGGC (per OPTIS)
- Headquarters
- Lindon, UT
- Scale
- More than 5,000 team members across the U.S.
Formerly PCF Insurance Services. The 2025 Carlyle deal bought back units from existing minority investors. HGGC's continuing stake comes only from OPTIS's appendix. OPTIS counted 14 deals in 2025.
OneDigital
Private equity- Owner
- Stone Point Capital and CPP Investments (majority, closed Dec 4, 2025); Onex Partners (significant minority)
- Headquarters
- Atlanta, GA
- Scale
- Offices in most major markets across the nation
A benefits-led buyer covering employee benefits and HR, retirement and wealth, P&C, PEO and Medicare Advantage. OPTIS counted 16 deals in 2025. No named add-ons were captured.
Marsh McLennan Agency
Strategic / public- Owner
- Marsh (NYSE: MRSH)
- Headquarters
- White Plains, NY
- Scale
- Not disclosed for MMA; its parent Marsh reports more than 95,000 colleagues
The HQ is the dateline on MMA's releases. Accel Holdings is a signed agreement (Aug 10, 2026) expected to close in Q3 2026. TriBridge closed Jun 1, 2026. OPTIS counted 10 MMA deals in 2025.
Patriot Growth Insurance Services
Private equity- Owner
- GI Partners and Summit Partners
- Headquarters
- Fort Washington, PA
- Scale
- 2,100+ professionals in 160+ locations across 29 states
GI Partners led a Sep 2021 recapitalization alongside Summit Partners, and Patriot's About page still names both. Its deal pace is slowing: OPTIS showed it down 32% in the first half of 2025, and Risk & Insurance reports it fell below 20 deals in the 12 months to June 2026.
Heffernan Insurance Brokers
Employee-owned (ESOP)- Owner
- Employee-owned since its 1988 founding
- Headquarters
- Walnut Creek, CA
- Scale
- Approximately 600 staff, with offices coast-to-coast
The months shown are effective dates; both deals were announced later (Jul 2025 and Aug 2026). The sources say 'employee owned', and none says the structure is a formal ESOP. OPTIS counted 11 deals in 2025.
Hilb Group
Private equity- Owner
- The Carlyle Group
- Headquarters
- Richmond, VA
- Scale
- More than 200 acquisitions; over 125 offices in 32 states
Hilb announces deals without naming the agency. 2026 examples are a Pennsylvania P&C agency (effective Jan 1), a South Carolina agency (Feb 1, its 200th acquisition), a Kentucky agency (May 1), a Florida agency (Jul 1), a Michigan agency (Aug 1) and a Pennsylvania agency (Sep 1). Its acquisitions therefore cannot be listed by name.
USI Insurance Services
Private equity- Owner
- KKR and other shareholders; pending sale to Aon plc
- Headquarters
- Valhalla, NY
- Scale
- More than 10,500 team members across nearly 200 U.S. offices
Pending sale. Aon agreed on Aug 31, 2026 to buy USI for $17.0B, with closing expected in Q4 2026, subject to regulatory approvals. Once it closes, USI becomes part of a public strategic buyer. OPTIS lists CDPQ as a co-owner. No named USI add-ons were captured.
Brown & Brown
Strategic / public- Owner
- Publicly traded (NYSE: BRO)
- Headquarters
- Daytona Beach, FL
- Scale
- 700+ locations and more than 23,000 professionals (after the Accession deal)
The Boston location for Accession is from OPTIS. OPTIS counted only 5 Brown & Brown agency deals in 2025. Its headline 2025 deal was Accession (closed Aug 1, 2025), the former PE platform behind Risk Strategies and One80.
Relation Insurance Services
Private equity- Owner
- BayPine (agreed to buy it from Aquiline on Feb 18, 2026)
- Headquarters
- Chicago, IL
- Scale
- Approximately 1,450 employees across more than 90 locations nationwide
New in this check. OPTIS and Risk & Insurance list the BayPine purchase as a 2026 PE ownership change. No closing release was read, but Relation's Sep 2026 release calls it BayPine-backed. LaPlaca was effective Jun 30, 2026 and announced Sep 25, 2026.
Higginbotham
Employee-owned (ESOP)- Owner
- Employee-owned; Stone Point Capital holds a minority stake (since 2009; portfolio status Current)
- Headquarters
- Fort Worth, TX
- Scale
- Not disclosed; over 130 partnerships acquired since 2009 (Stone Point, Nov 2025); ranked the 18th-largest U.S. independent brokerage by revenue (Aug 2025 release)
New in this check. Higginbotham calls itself employee-owned, but Stone Point says it moved from an ESOP to corporate ownership in 2007, so 'ESOP' is the closest allowed type, not an exact one. McGohan Brabender was a signed agreement (May 6, 2026).
Insurance Office of America (IOA)
Private equity- Owner
- Madison Dearborn Partners and Navacord (new investors, Oct 2025), alongside IOA's producers and employees
- Headquarters
- Longwood, FL
- Scale
- Over 60 offices in the U.S.
New in this check. OPTIS describes MDP and Navacord as acquiring a majority equity interest (Oct 2025), while the release gives no stake size. Its 2026 deals (Insurance Queen assets; All Risk Insurance Group, Aug 2026) are described only as 'South Florida', so they are not listed by city.
Selling in your state?
What insurance agency businesses sell for, who is buying, and how many there are, state by state.
Frequently asked
Who is buying the most insurance agencies right now?
Private-equity-backed platforms. OPTIS Partners counted BroadStreet Partners at 69 deals in 2025, Hub International at 49, Inszone Insurance Services at 45, World Insurance Associates at 34 and Keystone Agency Partners at 32. In the 12 months to June 2026 the leaders were BroadStreet (67), Inszone (57), Hub (33) and World (32). Leavitt Group (29 deals in 2025) was the most active privately owned buyer.
Are most insurance agency buyers private equity–backed?
Yes. OPTIS Partners found that PE-backed or hybrid buyers completed 73% of 2025 agency acquisitions, and nearly 75% in the 12 months to June 2026. Public brokers bought far fewer: Gallagher did 18 deals in 2025, Marsh McLennan Agency 10 and Brown & Brown 5.
What multiple will my insurance agency sell for?
It depends heavily on size. BizBuySell reports that small agencies sold on its marketplace from 2021 to 2025 averaged a 2.86x earnings (SDE) multiple, at a median sale price of $497,500. Peak Business Valuation puts agency SDE multiples at 3.18x–4.33x and EBITDA multiples at 4.28x–5.24x. Larger firms in deals tracked by MarshBerry averaged 11.03x EBITDA on upfront price in the 12 months to Q2 2025, and platform firms averaged 13.80x.
Is the insurance agency M&A market slowing down?
Deal counts are falling. OPTIS Partners counted 695 announced deals in 2025, down 12% from 2024. It counted 292 in the first half of 2026, down 15% year over year, which Risk & Insurance called the weakest start to a year in a decade. Unique buyers fell to 95 in 2025 from 104 in 2024. OPTIS says the industry is 'near the bottom' of a nearly four-year slide and that many firms will still need to sell in the next five to ten years.
What raises or lowers my agency's value to a buyer?
In OPTIS Partners' first-half 2026 analysis (as reported by Insurance Business), buyers still compete for agencies with organic growth, operational depth and genuine specialty expertise. Agencies with owner-dependent books, weak retention or commoditized personal lines face a tougher market. Peak Business Valuation adds that high client retention raises multiples and competition from larger firms can weigh on value. MarshBerry ties elevated valuations to strong organic growth and high margins.
How many independent agencies are there, and how many could sell?
The Big "I" 2026 Agency Universe Study counted about 37,000 independent agencies, down from 39,000 in 2024. OPTIS Partners cites estimates of over 30,000 independent agencies with under $1.25 million in revenue, most with no ability to perpetuate, and expects consolidation to continue.
Methodology & sources
Platforms were picked from OPTIS Partners' 2025 and first-half-2026 most-active-buyer tables. A completeness search then added three active consolidators with 2025-26 ownership events (Relation, Higginbotham and IOA). Each owner was checked against the sponsor's portfolio page, the company's own release or the deal release, then searched for 2025-2026 sales, recaps and IPO filings. Deals are named 2025-2026 acquisitions from acquirer releases (or trade coverage of them) that state the target's city. The table was capped near 40 rows, reaching 43 with three rows for the added platforms. Deals beyond the cap appear only in each platform's recent-acquisitions list. Multiples come from Peak Business Valuation, BizBuySell and MarshBerry. Value drivers come from OPTIS (via Insurance Business), Peak and MarshBerry. Every figure was re-read in this run from a fetched page or a search excerpt.
Multiple sources
- Peak Business Valuation — Insurance Agency Valuation Multiples (SDE) ↗
- Peak Business Valuation — Insurance Agency Valuation Multiples (EBITDA) ↗
- BizBuySell — Insurance Agency Business Valuation Benchmarks ↗
- MarshBerry — Today's ViewPoint (Jul 23, 2025) ↗
Market sources
- OPTIS Partners — North American Agent & Broker 2025 Year-End M&A Report (Jan 2026) ↗
- OPTIS Partners — Agent & Broker M&A Update, 1st Half 2025 ↗
- Risk & Insurance — OPTIS H1 2026 agency M&A (Jul 23, 2026) ↗
- Insurance Business — OPTIS H1 2026 view on which agencies draw buyers (Aug 26, 2026) ↗
- Insurance Journal — Big "I" 2026 Agency Universe Study (Sep 24, 2026) ↗
- Insurance Journal — Big "I" 2026 Market Share Report (Jun 23, 2026) ↗
Last updated October 6, 2026. Platform ownership last verified October 6, 2026. Ownership in this sector changes frequently; figures reflect the most recent public sources available and are not investment, legal, or tax advice.
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