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It was just a matter of time before Acrisure LLC, one of the insurance industry's most active buyers, broke into Ohio.
This market was on the firm's radar for at least the last four years, said Acrisure CEO Greg Williams, who founded the business in Caledonia, Mich., in 2005.
But it wasn't until last fall that the firm began to pursue Cleveland's Britton Gallagher, which happened to be right around the time Acrisure completed a $2.9 billion management-led buyout from its private equity sponsor Genstar Capital -- something that helped Acrisure seal the deal with its Northeast Ohio platform investment.
Now under the Acrisure umbrella -- the firms announced their partnership on May 12 -- expect Britton Gallagher, which is retaining all of its staff and leadership in the partnership, to buy up independent shops of its own as the firm marks its 75-year anniversary and its next phase of growth.
"Our goal is to double in size in a year," said Britton Gallagher president Jeremy Bryant, who declined to share company revenues.
"Without a partnership with Acrisure, I don't see that we'd be able to do that at the current setting with limited resources," he said. "Having them on the ground with corporate service and bench strength will really help us."
In terms of potential firms on Bryant's radar, he said the "pipeline is full."
Williams said the delay in coming to Ohio was simply in finding the right company to work with. A well-established, midsize broker like Britton Gallagher offered the perfect platform to enter the state with gusto with...