Killarney based firm Gallivan Murphy Insurance Brokers Limited (GMIB) has been bought by US business AssuredPartners.
The parties declined to comment on the value of the deal, but industry sources indicated that it was around €100m, making it one of the largest deals of its kind in the sector in recent years.
Although based in Kerry, family owned GMIB operates on a national basis, and AssuredPartners now plans to use it as a platform upon which to bolt on further acquisitions here.
GMIB currently employs around 85 staff, but following the deal it is expected that figure will grow to 250 over the next 3-5 years.
The company is fully owned by chairman Tadgh Gallivan, and joint managing directors, Denis Murphy and Simon Gallivan, who are to continue working at the business.
Set up eleven years ago, AssuredPartners operates in the US, UK, Ireland and elsewhere in Europe, with 400 agencies across five countries and five states in the US.
It has over $2.0 billion in annualised revenue and around 8,500 employees.
"GMIB has a strong reputation and has demonstrated an enviable ability to scale their business organically over the last several years making it one of the largest independently owned brokers operating in the Irish market," said David Heathfield, CEO AssuredPartners UK & Europe.
"We are excited to benefit from the skills and in-depth knowledge of their management team to help us grow our footprint in Ireland as we look to continue our expansion at pace."
GMIB first opened in 1989 and following significant investment in its technology and people over the years now places gross written premiums worth approximately €60m a year with revenues of around €15m.
The firm operates in both the personal and commercial markets and has almost doubled in size since 2020, entirely through organic growth.
"After 33 years building a successful and rapidly growing business, we are delighted to partner with AssuredPartners to become their platform for growth in the Irish market," said Tadgh Gallivan, Chairman of GMIB, who is to remain on in the business in a non-executive capacity.
"The mutually strong cultural fit was evident from the outset of our discussions and in our shared ambition to further accelerate GMIB's growth trajectory both organically and through acquisition."
Subject to regulatory approval, the deal is expected to close in June 2022.
The insurance brokerage sector has seen significant acquisition activity in recent years as large foreign players enter the Irish market.
In 2020, UK based Ardonagh bought Dublin broker Arachas for around €250m.
