Aon CEO says insurance broker seeks to build 'premiere middle market platform' with purchase of rival USI — SkimNews
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- Aon announced Monday it will purchase rival USI Insurance Services from KKR for $17 billion, funded by new debt and expected to close in Q4 subject to regulatory approvals.
- CEO Greg Case told CNBC's "Squawk Box" the deal creates the "premier U.S. middle-market platform," targeting 200,000 middle-market companies and their 48 million employees that Case called "underserved."
- USI ranks as the tenth largest insurance broker in the U.S., generating more than $3 billion in annual revenue with over 10,500 employees, and CEO Mike Sicard will become Aon's president and global CEO of middle market once the deal closes.
- Aon is building on its 2024 acquisition of NFP, another middle-market-focused broker, with Case calling the combined opportunity "maybe the greatest I've seen in my 20-year career as CEO."
- Aon shares slipped about 1% in premarket trading Monday even as Case framed the deal as creating tremendous shareholder value.
- KKR partner Chris Harrington said Aon is "the ideal partner to support USI's next growth chapter," with the FT separately highlighting KKR's "giant windfall" from the $17 billion sale.
Why it matters: The $17 billion price tag — among the largest insurance brokerage deals on record — gives Aon the scale to consolidate 200,000 mid-sized employers into one platform, but the 1% premarket slide suggests investors are weighing integration risk against Case's pitch that this is the biggest opportunity of his tenure. KKR, meanwhile, exits USI at a valuation multiple reflecting the broader 2024–2025 insurance brokerage repricing.
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