shutterstock_1482461636_dw-labs-incorporated
shutterstock/DW labs Incorporated
28 January 2022Insurance

Marsh McLennan claims ‘solid’ M&A pipeline, need not join bidding wars to secure top assets

Global insurance broker  Marsh McLennan need not join bidding wars to satiate its continuing M&A appetite, top company officials claim.

“When you hear talk of competition over acquisitions, that is not us,” CEO Dan Glaser told the Q4 earnings call. “When you hear about competition and froth, we usually aren’t engaged in that; we don’t even pick up the teaser.”

Marsh has a target to deploy $4 billion in capital in 2022 for varied forms of growth and shareholder remuneration, but “has no budget” written as a must-spend for M&A, Glaser insisted.

“We remain active in the market; we have a good solid pipeline,” COO John Doyle added. He brags of seven modestly sized deals done in Q4, including upping a stake in a key Indian unit and purchase of an affinity brokerage in France. For FY 2021, officials like the Q2 purchase of Paynewest insurance for offering geographical reach into the American northwest.

“We are looking for strong performing businesses that are well led that make us better in some way: in a market we are not serving in at the moment, not so strong in, or a geography,” Doyle said.

Glaser claims Marsh can sustain a deals pipeline even while sitting comfortably behind their desks. “Companies that can sell to anybody, they choose to sell to Marsh; they want to be on the A-team,” Glaser said.

Valuations “have increased over the years,” Glaser admitted and privately-held firms have to be reviewed rather closely for surprises in their pro-forma accounting standards. MGA’s price downright “very, very high,” Doyle added, with much of the field positioning to price as an insurtech.

Did you get value from this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Elliot Field at efield@newtonmedia.co.uk or Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Insurance
28 January 2022   “When we hire, it’s not ‘what is your book of business?’ …not just somebody who can pull in an account or two.”
Insurance
28 January 2022   Individual ransomware risks still dominate the market calculus; cumulation is a backburner concern.
Insurance
1 February 2022   The new hire has over 25 years’ specialist industry experience, including at AIG.