How a prime 100 dealer is tackling the ‘tsunami of modifications’ by way of M&A

Graham Company was one of many largest impartial insurance coverage businesses within the United States, however the prime 100 company not too long ago ushered the beginning of a brand new period after being acquired by Marsh McLennan Agency (MMA), a subsidiary of Marsh and probably the most lively mergers and acquisitions companions out there.

“It was quite a journey,” stated Ken Ewell (pictured proper), president and chief working officer of Graham Company. “I could say right up front, if it wasn’t for Marsh McLennan Agency, we probably wouldn’t be having this interview.”

Selling to a a lot bigger agency was by no means a part of the imaginative and prescient for Graham Company, Ewell stated. But becoming a member of MMA has unlocked better assets for the agency, permitting it to face a “tsunami” of know-how modifications within the business.

“We were well on our way to over six decades of building a strong culture from the inside-out, attracting the best people, and training and continuing to develop them,” stated Ewell. “Simply put, we don’t have the scale, on a standalone basis, to face the tsunami of technology changes coming our way.”

The deal between MMA and Graham firm closed on August 1, 2023. Terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed.

The massive query

Graham Company supplies enterprise insurance coverage, worker advantages, and surety brokerage providers to firms in high-risk industries, together with development, actual property, manufacturing and distribution, well being and human providers, and monetary {and professional} providers.

Founded in 1960 by William Graham III, the Philadelphia-based agency now instructions greater than $75 million in annual income following important investments in know-how to gasoline its nationwide development.

It has 215 staff throughout its Philadelphia, New York and Washington DC workplaces, all of whom can be retained after the acquisition.

The determination to hitch MMA additionally permits Graham Company to supply shoppers a wider array of capabilities and entry to extremely specialised, superior applied sciences, whereas preserving and strengthening its tradition and values whereas offering new profession improvement alternatives for workers.

“We were thinking 18 months ahead, three years ahead, [about] what would drive client choice,” Ewell continued. “That was a big question we asked. Our clients want technology solutions that improve their decision making, and what our clients want is what we want.”

Fulfilment of a legacy

Graham Company got here into the only possession of William “Bill” Graham IV, within the Seventies. Bill served as president from 1970 to 1999, and at present serves as chairman.

In 2017, the brokerage transformed to an employee-owned enterprise by way of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), a transfer that aligned with Bill’s philosophy of investing in his folks.

“Bill’s always been about what drives client choice,” stated Ewell. “How do we grow a business? How can we sustain a high-performance culture? The ESOP was a fulfilment of his vision.”

But as Graham Company noticed modifications within the business starting to speed up, it shortly realized that it wanted to evolve with it.

“We came together, and Bill said, we have to look at this and plan for the future,” Ewell stated. “Bill feels that while the ESOP was a great completion of his vision for his employees, our partnership with Marsh McLennan Agency is the fulfilment of his legacy to his employees, and to our clients and future clients.”

‘A very easy decision’ for MMA

The acquisition additionally has important private {and professional} which means for David Eslick (pictured left), chairman & CEO of MMA.

“Graham has been one of the most highly respected firms in the insurance brokerage industry for decades,” Eslick informed Insurance Business. “Bill Graham is an icon and what he began with Graham has been one of many biggest successes in in our business.

“Ken and I sat on the board of the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers for a couple of decades together. We have been able to build both our personal and professional relationship [during that time], especially in the last 14 years since I started Marsh McLennan Agency.”

The CEO stated MMA had been seeking to construct out its worker advantages experience after it acquired Trion Group, a bunch incapacity and life advantages brokerage in 2010.

“We wanted to find the right partner for them because they’re middle-market to upper middle-market on benefits. We knew that Graham [Company] would be the right partner because Graham is in the middle-market to upper middle market space in the property and casualty area.”

“Over the last two years, Ken and I became more engaged and we both decided that each one of us would be better together than apart.”

White Plains, New York-headquartered MMA is the nation’s eighth-largest insurance coverage dealer, with greater than 10,000 staff in 170 workplaces.

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