MarshBerry Celebrates 40th Anniversary

February 4, 2021

MarshBerry’s celebrates its 40th anniversary as a firm. At its foundation, MarshBerry was formed on the principle that it could help insurance agencies and brokerages improve, grow and realize their value by leveraging proprietary data to inform and drive business decisions. This philosophy remains a cornerstone of the firm’s continued success today.

In 1981, the firm was created with a primary focus on valuations and merger & acquisition (M&A) advisory. It quickly became apparent that there was a need for more dedicated services for this often-underserved industry. Over the years, MarshBerry has grown its focus and expertise to include a full suite of solutions including M&A Advisory, Business & Perpetuation Planning, Valuations, Organic Growth Consulting, and Debt and Equity Raising services.

“As the industry’s leading investment banker and strategic advisor for insurance firms in the U.S. and abroad, our team of value creation architects has always been dedicated to working with our clients to help them embrace meaningful, and sometimes, painful change in order to grow their business, optimize their value and determine their future,” said John Wepler, MarshBerry Chairman & CEO. “Over the last 40 years, our organization has continually evolved and has set the pace for the industry. I’m extremely proud of our accomplishments thus far – but the best is yet to come.”

Noteworthy Accomplishments and Distinctions:

M&A ADVISORY SERVICES

  • #1 Sell Side Advisor – 22nd Year in a Row: In February 2021, MarshBerry announced that the company completed 105 M&A transactions (70 sell side/35 buy side), closing another record year for the firm. Since 1999, MarshBerry has advised on more than 900 M&A transactions which is approximately 27% of the total tracked deal flow during this period as reported by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
  • Instrumental in the Formation of Three Top 100 National Brokerages
    • In 2017, MarshBerry served as the investment banking firm that brought 24 independent agencies together to form Alera Group, Inc. – now #17 on Business Insurance’s (BI) “Top 100” list of largest U.S. brokers.
    • In 2019, MarshBerry served as the investment banking firm that brought together 17 independent insurance firms, and the TRUE Network of Advisors, to form Patriot Growth Insurance Services, LLC. – now #53 on BI’s “Top 100” list of largest U.S. brokers.
    • Most recently MarshBerry helped four of Georgia’s premier insurance brokers, Founders Insurance, Hutchinson Traylor Insurance, McGinty-Gordon & Associates, and Waites & Foshee, to form Oakbridge Insurance Agency. The transaction closed on December 31, 2020. The firm is now one of the largest privately-owned Insurance, Surety, Risk Management and Employee Benefits agencies in the Southeast as well as becoming one of the country’s “Top 100” firms as ranked by BI.
  • International Expansion: In 2018, MarshBerry expanded its footprint to the international marketplace. MarshBerry International, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, was born out of the demand from international brokers to access MarshBerry’s M&A advisory expertise, performance benchmarks and peer exchange forums.

INDUSTRY THOUGHT LEADERS

  • Data-Driven Insights – Value Intelligence Portal: In 1989, before big data and advanced analytics were everyday nomenclature, MarshBerry launched its performance benchmarking system – Perspectives for High Performance (PHP). The proprietary financial benchmarking system enabled firms to accurately assess the complete spectrum of their financial performance. Today, PHP features more than 600 key ratios and represents more than $58B in premium for over 1,200 independent agencies and brokers across the United States and Canada. The benchmarking system, and a growing set of advanced analytics, now reside on the Value Intelligence Portal. This value creation portal helps insurance distributors drive performance and implement best practices.
  • Highly Regarded Industry Experts: MarshBerry’s high-caliber seminars and special events, as well as proprietary studies and reports, provide agencies, carriers, wholesalers and specialty distributors the full view of M&A and Organic Growth Best Practices. MarshBerry has grown to be a sought-after partner and resource in understanding the state of the industry.

ORGANIC GROWTH

  • Executive Peer Exchange: MarshBerry’s exclusive executive peer exchange focuses on improving agency value, fostering unity between insurance operations and bank partners, and helping firms to drive consistent and predictable organic growth. The Connect Network today boasts more than 125 members representing more than $2.1B in aggregate revenue.
  • Connect Platform: Launched April 2019, the Connect Platform is a new category of independent distribution that helps insurance firms leverage scope, scale and resources to maximize growth through business intelligence, resource optimization and premier partner alignment. In September 2020, the Connect Platform was certified as one of the top three agency partnerships in the country.