3.3.3Segment

Insurance Brokerage & Distribution

Insurance brokers, agents, and MGAs distributing commercial lines, personal lines, and employee benefits products.

5
Verticals

Overview

Insurance Brokerage & Distribution covers brokers, agents, and MGAs distributing commercial lines, personal lines, and employee benefits — from the global brokers (Marsh, Aon, Gallagher, Brown & Brown) to a vast base of regional and local agencies. It is the most actively consolidated market in the entire M&A landscape.

Recurring commission revenue, high retention, and capital-light economics have made brokerage a perennial roll-up, with PE-backed consolidators (Acrisure, HUB, USI, AssuredPartners, BroadStreet) executing hundreds of deals a year. Scale improves carrier leverage, data, and cross-sell.

Market snapshot

Market size
~$203B
Growth
~6.9%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
Companies
~123,077 firms
Firms by employee count

96.9% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 119,268 micro-businesses, below most mandates.

The investable universe3,809 firms with 20+ employees
20–99
2,79673%
100–499
58915%
500+
42411%

The most actively consolidated market in all of M&A. Recurring commission revenue, high retention, and capital-light economics have made brokerage a perennial roll-up — PE-backed consolidators (Acrisure, HUB, USI, AssuredPartners, BroadStreet) execute hundreds of deals a year against a base of ~123,000 mostly-tiny agencies. 'Companies' are agency firms, not the carriers behind the coverage; scale improves carrier leverage, data, and cross-sell.

NAICS 524210, 524298. U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Economic Census.

Business model & economics

Revenue model

Commissions and fees on placed coverage

Key economics

Revenue per firm
$1,649,121
Revenue per employee
$232,840
Employees per firm
6.8
Recurring revenue
High

renewing commissions with strong retention

EBITDA margin
20–30%
Capex intensity
Low

Characteristics

  • Balanced cost base — payroll is 34% of revenue, leaving room to scale margin without cutting staff
  • Deep strategic-buyer pool — 424 firms exceed 500 employees, so a scaled asset has trade buyers
  • The marquee roll-up — recurring commissions, high retention.
  • PE consolidators executing hundreds of deals a year.
  • Scale improves carrier leverage, data, and cross-sell.

NAICS 524210, 524298. U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Economic Census.

M&A deal context

Deal activityHigh

Who’s acquiring

  • Global & national broker consolidators
  • PE-backed brokerage platforms
  • MGA & program acquirers

What’s driving deals

  • Relentless roll-up of regional and local agencies.
  • Recurring commissions and high retention.
  • Scale advantages in carrier leverage and data.

Verticals in this segment

Find Insurance Brokerage & Distribution acquisition targets

Search Acquisera’s index for companies classified under Insurance Brokerage & Distribution (3.3.3) and build a targeted deal pipeline.

Search companies