Brokers Acquire 4 Agencies

By Staff Writer

July 12, 2004 at 08:00 PM

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NU Online News Service, July 12, 2004, 6:40 p.m. EDT

Insurance brokers have announced a total of 4 insurance and benefits agency deals in the past 4 days.[@@]

Brown & Brown Inc., Daytona Beach, Fla., is acquiring a group of businesses that includes Wiita Insurance Agency Inc., Hurley, Wis.; Wiita & Stevens Insurance, Minocqua, Wis.; and Tribal Benefits Specialists L.L.C.

The 3 entities generate a total of about $2 million in revenue per year by selling insurance, benefits and related products and services to Native American tribes and tribal businesses in the upper Midwest, Brown & Brown says.

Meanwhile Arthur J. Gallagher & Company, Itasca, Ill., is acquiring BenefitPort Northwest, Bellevue, Wash., a large regional benefits brokerage firm, from BenefitPort Inc., Norwalk, Conn.

The prices of the deals and other financial terms were not available. But Brown & Brown says it will be keeping John Wiita, the president of Wiita Insurance, as the profit center manager for the businesses it's buying.

Arthur J. Gallagher will be renaming BenefitPort Northwest "Gallagher Reppond, a division of Gallagher Benefit Services," and keeping founder Ben Reppond as its area president.

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