Insurance agency mergers & acquisitions in the first three months of 2026 were down 6% compared with the same period last year.
It was the 10th consecutive quarter of deal volume below the long-term trend line but, inv
estment banking and financial consulting firm OPTIS Partners said the trend is “probably bott
oming out.”
During the Q1 2026 there were 148 insurance agency deals, which was the lowest total for the time p
eriod since 2016, said OPTIS Partners’ M&A database.
“The industry has ridden down a three-year slide in deal volume, which we belie
ve is beginning to bottom out to about 650 deals per year,” said Steve Germunds
on, a partner of the firm. Insurance agency M&A finished at 695 deals in 2025, down 12% from 2024.
Looking ahead, the tally of about 30 active private-equity-backed brokers, as well as private
and public buyers, continue to fuel demand for the 25,000 to 30,000 agencies nationally—a majority of
which are “very small and will have to be sold eventually,” said OPTIS managing partner Tim Cunningham.
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“We are seeing an emerging group of new ventures backed by private-equity and family-office capital pursuing this group because of the large supply o
f future sellers, enhancements in technology, and long-term chang
es in the way insurance at the smaller end will be sold and serviced,” Cunningham added. OPT
IS also said somewhat larger firms will be attractive to buyers, partly due to a “perceived scarcity fact
or” and improvements the businesses have made.
Off the 55 unique buyers identified in Q1, 29 were private equity and four announced the
ir first deal. PE-bac
ked buyers accounted for 72% of announced transactions during Q1. Private com
panies had 19 deals, with five first-timers. OPTIS also keep track of publicly held brokers a
nd all others.
Inszone and BroadStreet Partners led all buyers in Q1 deals with 17 and 16, respectively.
