Aon is reportedly on the verge of another significant acquisition, as the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the company is close to finalising a deal to acquire USI Insurance Services (USI) said to be worth around $17 billion.
The Wall Street Journal said that people familiar with the deal had suggested an announcement on an Aon acquisition of USI could come as soon as today.
The $17 billion price tag for USI would include debt, the report states, with the brokerage’s previous main owner private equity group KKR looking to sell out of its holding in USI.
KKR led a deal to purchase USI from Onex in 2017 at a $4.3 billion including debt price tag.
Since then, KKR is said to have increased its ownership stake on the insurance brokerage and consultancy.
USI began its story back in 1994 and has grown to command around $3 billion in annual revenue, with more than 10,500 employees across nearly 200 offices in the United States.
USI specialises in property and casualty insurance, employee and wholesale benefits, retirement consulting, programs, as well as personal lines with a focus on higher net worth clients.
As a result, there will be meaningful crossover and synergies between Aon’s expansive footprint in all these areas, and the US business should an acquisition be agreed and completed.
Should the report of Aon planning an acquisition of USI be accurate, it will be the second significant acquisition from the company in recent years.
In 2024, Aon completed its acquisition of NFP, a middle-market property and casualty broker, benefits consultant, wealth manager and retirement plan advisor, for a reported $13 billion price tag.
Aon has since integrated NFP successfully, although selling off some smaller business units.
Aon’s executives have reported substantial growth in footprint in some of those key business areas of insurance broking and consulting thanks to the NFP deal, which again would have crossover and synergies with USI’s footprint and specialisms.
There’s no guarantee any deal is completed of course and we cannot confirm the WSJ’s reporting.
But should Aon acquire USI, this would be another significant step in building out a market-leading footprint in some of these areas of the US insurance broking and servicing marketplace, while for investor KKR this would be another successful exit at an attractive valuation.
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