Big-Ticket P&C M&A Remains Slow

Large P&C insurers continue to shy away from making merger and acquisition deals, according to data from SNL Financial. During the quarter that ended September 30, insurance underwriters announced or completed 20 deals, vs. 18 in the second quarter and 35 in the year-ago quarter. The aggregate deal value in the recent quarter was $2.28 billion, with no single transaction exceeding $1 billion, down from $4.20 billion in the second quarter and $14.36 billion a year ago.

While M&A won’t increase in quantity, it will continue to increase in complexity as insurers adapt their business models to a new environment that includes persistently low investment yields, tightening regulation and overcapacity, according to PwC’s “Insurance 2020: A quiet revolution – The future of insurance M&A.”

As U.S. and European economies recover and Latin American and Asian markets emerge, premiums are expected to rise, according PwC. (To see six trends that highlight a competitive, less risk averse future for insurance M&A, click here.

The agency market has also experienced a decline. The number of insurance agency mergers and acquisitions also declined to 46 in the second quarter from the 76 transactions reported in Q1, according to Optis Partners, an agent-broker M&A advisory firm. In the first half of this year, there were 122 reported acquisitions in the United States and Canada, compared to 133 deals last year.