2026 Insurance Agency Mergers and Acquisitions Update
Insurance agency mergers and acquisitions experienced a slowdown in the initial half of 2026. A report by OPTIS Partners, specializing in investment banking and financial consulting for the insurance distribution sector, indicates a stabilization in this decline. During this period, 292 agency M&A transactions were announced, marking a 15% reduction from the same timeframe the previous year and the slowest start since 2016.
According to Steve Germundson, a partner at OPTIS Partners, some of the biggest and most active acquirers in recent years have notably reduced their activities. Meanwhile, there has been a rise in acquisition activity among emerging private equity firms and companies anticipating recapitalization or future sales.
OPTIS Partners categorizes acquirers into four groups: private equity-backed and hybrid buyers, privately held brokers, publicly held brokers, and all others. Private equity-backed participants, including institutional investors like family offices, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds, executed 76% of the acquisitions during this timeframe.
The first half of 2026 saw 68 different buyers in action. Of these, 37 were private equity-backed, with six completing their initial deals. The remaining 21 included privately held brokers, among which nine were new to the market. Leading buyers were BroadStreet Partners and Inszone Insurance Services with 37 and 33 acquisitions, respectively, followed by ALKEME and World Insurance Associates with 15 deals each.
Entities like Hub International, Keystone Agency Partners, HighStreet Partners, and Acrisure significantly scaled back their acquisition efforts, each reducing transactions by over half compared to the same period in 2025. In contrast, acquisition activity remained more robust with private equity-backed entities.
Regarding sellers, OPTIS Partners designates them into four categories: property/casualty agencies, employee benefits agencies, combination P&C/benefits agencies, and others including TPAs, MGAs, and firms in life insurance, investment management, or consulting. Property/casualty agencies represented 198 transactions, or 68% of the total.
Tim Cunningham, managing partner at OPTIS, highlighted that valuations for larger and well-managed agencies remain robust, despite a general market cooling. Nonetheless, a decline in valuations is noticeable for other business types. Cunningham also pointed out a reduced presence of high-quality sellers and projected more available smaller firms lacking internal succession plans within the next five to ten years.
Germundson advised agency owners contemplating a sale within the next five years to begin strategizing now to optimize agency value. The complete report can be accessed at optisins.com.