The strong market for acquisitions continues, fulfilling Celent�s predictions in May 2006.
In a companion to its recent report on banking services M&A deals, Celent has published a new report examining approximately 70 recorded M&A deals in insurance brokerage, services, and technology in 2006 which finds increased activity and valuation levels.
�Driven by an influx of private equity, the need of mature companies to buy growth, and the desire to expand capabilities and solution offerings without long and protracted R&D processes, the level of M&A activity across services and technology for insurance continues to grow,� says Matthew Josefowicz, managing director of Celent�s insurance practice and primary author of the report.
The report revisits Celent�s May 2006 predictions about consolidation in the insurance software sector. As projected, deal volume for technology specifically has grown to nearly 20 significant deals, which the greatest activity concentrated in the policy administration system area.
�There are no signs of this pace slowing in 2007,� notes Josefowicz. �Already this quarter we�ve seen more than 10 deals by the three most active brokerage acquirers of 2006, Arthur J. Gallagher, Brown & Brown, and Hilb, Rogal & Hobbs. We�ve also seen significant insurance-related technology acquisitions by Skywire, Hewlett-Packard, Thomson, and Pitney-Bowes. And private equity firms are looking at the space with a new eye.�
The 20 page report includes 10 figures and tables.
The report is 52 pages. A table of contents is available online.
About Celent
Celent’s service offering falls into two categories, consulting and research, each of which is dedicated to technology in the financial services industry. We help banks, brokerage firms and insurance companies use IT to enter new markets in the shortest possible timeframes. All of our services are geared towards facilitating better informed, faster decision making. For more information visit www.celent.com.
