Onex Corp explores sale of USI Insurance valued at around $4 bn
12 Jan 2017
Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp is exploring a sale of US insurance brokerage firm USI Insurance Services valued at around $4 billion, including debt, Reuters yesterday reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Onex, based in Ontario, is working with Bank of America Corp on an auction for USI, the report said.
Onex had acquired USI in 2012 from Goldman Sachs Group's private equity arm for $2.3 billion.
Founded in 1994 and based in New York, USI provides insurance brokerage and consulting services.
USI is a leader in insurance brokerage and consulting in property-casualty, employee benefits, personal risk services, retirement, programme and specialty solutions.
It has 140 offices in every US state, employs more than 4,400 people and has annual revenue of more than $1 billion.
A sale of USI would underscore the wave of consolidation sweeping the commercial property and casualty insurance market, which has not grown quickly enough to support the smaller brokerages, and has attracted buyout firms keen to cut costs, the report added.