DATASORA

Aon will buy USI Insurance Services from KKR and other shareholders for $17 billion, one of the largest insurance brokerage deals in years. Close is targeted for Q4 2026; Mike Sicard will lead Aon’s middle-market platform.

• Net price about $16.7bn after $278m of tax attributes — roughly 14.5x synergized TTM adjusted EBITDA.
• Aon cites $395m of annual run-rate net adjusted EBITDA from revenue and cost synergies; accretion to adjusted EPS in 2028.
• Builds on Aon’s NFP purchase and doubles down on U.S. middle market versus Marsh and Gallagher.

Desk note — For Sompo this is a distribution event, not just a broker scoreboard. A combined Aon–NFP–USI middle-market machine will concentrate casualty, property, and specialty flow — and will expect panel capacity, product breadth, and claims service in return.

Aon confirmed the $17 billion purchase price for USI and framed the deal as the next build-out of its U.S. middle-market franchise after NFP.

• USI brings roughly $3bn of revenue, 10,500 employees, and about 200 offices.
• Greg Case called it the greatest value-creation chance of his 20-year tenure.
• KKR exits a 2017 platform investment — a rare full-sale of a scaled PE broker.

Desk note — Watch appointment strategy. Middle-market construction, WC, and package business is exactly the SME lane Sompo just doubled down on with Service Insurance Companies.

Gallagher Re bundled AI liability, data-center, cyber, and digital risk engineering into a single practice as brokers industrialize tech-risk placement.

• The practice sits inside Gallagher Re, not only retail — treaty and facultative clients are in scope.
• Data-center property and AI liability are colliding with traditional CAT and casualty panels.
• Follows Gallagher’s AssuredPartners digestion and its climb to the world’s third-largest broker.

Desk note — Sompo’s specialty and Aspen cyber / management-liability capabilities need a clear answer when Gallagher Re shops these risks in the fall.

IMA’s Q2 2026 tape: commercial property led the decline at −5.5% as three-quarters of carriers added capacity. Cyber −3.5%. D&O −2.1%, the eighth consecutive down quarter. Workers’ compensation also printed decreases.

• Property loss ratio improved to 85% YE 2025 even after California wildfires and SCS.
• Cyber threat activity is intensifying — identity-based attacks, BEC, third-party — while rates still fall.
• Excess D&O capacity remains abundant; buyers are expanding limits.

Desk note — This is the oversupply map. Non-CAT property, cyber, and public D&O are crowded. The money is in the classes that did not get this capital: auto, excess construction casualty, older property.

Sompo International signed a definitive agreement to buy Service Insurance Companies, a 1982-founded monoline WC specialist focused on SMEs and the general-agent channel. Terms undisclosed; close subject to regulatory approval.

• Chris Sparro: the deal creates a flagship for Sompo’s U.S. workers’ compensation franchise.
• Brad Davis stays on to run the business and extend it from monoline WC into a diversified commercial platform.
• Advisors: Guy Carpenter Capital & Advisory (Sompo) and Howden Capital Markets & Advisory (Service).

Desk note — This is the SME / GA distribution play that sits next to Aspen’s specialty and capital-markets stack. Construction accounts and wrap-ups will feel it in 2027 renewals if the close lands.

Mid-2026 agency-and-broker multiple observations put PE-backed platforms at $50m+ revenue at 12–16x adjusted EBITDA on primary deals and 14–18x on continuation or secondary recaps.

• Aon’s NFP print (~14x) remains the public anchor.
• Acrisure and Hub recaps in 2023–24 set the upper recap band.
• Aon–USI at ~14.5x synergized EBITDA now refreshes the 2026 tape.

Desk note — Sponsors can still exit. That keeps roll-up dry powder in the market and keeps independent construction and casualty producers in play for Howden, Gallagher, and the remaining PE platforms.

MarshBerry’s deal tape through June 30, 2026 lists 785 insurance-brokerage transactions, 476 of them P&C, versus 18 carrier deals. Retail still dominates (699) over specialty (112).

• The buy side is still overwhelmingly brokerage, not carriers or banks.
• P&C agencies remain the most acquired sleeve.
• Specialty is a minority of count but a majority of strategic attention.

Desk note — Volume is in retail P&C tuck-ins. Strategic risk for Sompo is the handful of platform deals that rewrite who controls the submission.

PwC’s mid-year 2026 insurance deals outlook says megadeals still dominate value while private equity stays active across L&A, P&C, and distribution — increasingly via sidecars, reinsurance, cat bonds, and minority structures.

• PE demand remains strong but more selective on underwriting quality.
• Alternative asset managers want liability origination plus investment-management mandates.
• Distribution roll-ups continue even as organic broker growth cools.

Desk note — The Aon–USI print at ~14.5x is the new comps tape for every PE-backed broker still in the market. Specialty MGAs that cannot show loss-ratio discipline will not clear that bar.

Since launching Howden US in August 2025, the broker has hired an estimated 500+ staff from Marsh, Aon, WTW, Brown & Brown, and Alliant — and is defending a stack of poaching suits.

• Mike Parrish (ex-Marsh Florida) is U.S. CEO; Jim Hays is vice chairman.
• Marsh, Aon, WTW, Brown & Brown, and Alliant have all filed or defended related actions.
• Overnight raids on Brown & Brown’s legacy Hays Companies benefits operation escalated the fight in December 2025.

Desk note — Producer movement is a placement risk. When teams walk, submissions, expirations, and incumbent relationships walk with them — including Sompo’s.

Ground-up non-CAT builders risk is stable to softening (−5% to +10%). Primary OCIP/CCIP is orderly; umbrella and excess liability still prints +5% to +30% depending on account and attachment.

• Gallagher has reported single-layer builders-risk decreases of 5–7% in non-CAT zones.
• Inland marine stays competitive even for contractors with some adverse loss history.
• CAT-exposed and high-hazard projects do not get the same relief.

Desk note — Sompo can be relevant on non-CAT builders risk and wrap primary. The money — and the differentiation — is still in excess casualty, delay-in-start, and CAT-adjacent project property.

Amwins’ 2026 state of the market: record capacity from carriers, MGAs, and syndicates on well-engineered risks — oversubscription is commonplace. Older locations, aging infrastructure, and environmental excess (eaten by auto claims) are the other book.

• Knowledgeable brokers are still getting rate down and terms up on clean accounts.
• Carriers are tightening deductibles and terms on older schedules.
• Environmental excess is thinner, in part because large auto claims consumed the tower.

Desk note — Two property markets, two environmental markets. The oversupply is the clean account. The white space is age, auto, and anything that looks like a nuclear-verdict class.