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Marsh & McLennan on Growth Path with Acquisitions by Units (Revised)

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. MMC continues on its inorganic growth path with three acquisitions. Its subsidiary Marsh & McLennan Agency took over Presidio Benefits Group. Another unit Mercer acquired Pillar Administration and yet another unit Oliver Wyman bought LShift Limited.

Since 2009, the company made more than 120 acquisitions and investments totaling more than $5 billion. In each of the last six years, the company has grown consolidated underlying revenue in the 3% to 5% range. Acquisitions have added two percentage points on average over that same time period.

The positive effects of numerous acquisitions and their synergistic effects are reflected in the company’s share price which is up 175.4% since 2009 to date, outperforming the gain of 102.4% logged by the Zacks categorised Insurance Brokers industry.

Coming back to the news, Mercer, a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, has acquired Pillar Administration. The buyout will firmly place the company as a leading outsourced superannuation provider in Australia. The company finds Pillar an attractive buyout by virtue of its business scale, with more than $100 billion in funds under administration across 1.1 million member accounts.

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Marsh & McLennan Agency acquired Presidio Benefits Group, a San Francisco-based employee benefits consulting firm providing an array of employee benefits and human resource services to employers in the Bay Area.

Yet another unit, a global management consultancy named Oliver Wyman, announced the purchase of LShift Limited, an independent software development company. This deal will enhance the acquirer’s technology and data offerings.

During the first half of 2016, the company used $168 million for acquisitions and has completed the takeovers of New York-based insurance brokerage and human resource consulting firm Corporate Consulting Services Ltd; a leading aviation risk advisor Aviation Solutions LLC and one of Florida’s largest independent agencies Celedinas Insurance Group.

Last month, the company inked a deal to acquire Bluefin Insurance Group Limited, a unit of AXA Group.

In October, the company acquired Vero Insurance, Inc., known for its insurance products and personal service to high net worth individuals, families and small businesses.

The company’s inorganic growth boosts investors’ confidence in the stock. Moreover, its investments are broad based and includes geographic expansion, segmentation, and new capabilities and innovations. These poise the company for long-term growth.

Marsh & McLennan carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Investors may consider players like Alleghany Corp. Y , Arch Capital Group Limited ACGL and First American Financial Corporation FAF . Each of these stocks carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Alleghany delivered positive surprises in three of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 20.52%.

Arch Capital beat expectations in each of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 9.27%.

First American Financial Corporation delivered positive surprises in each of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 62.8%.

(We are reissuing this article to correct a mistake. The original article, issued on Dec 2, 2016, should no longer be relied upon.)


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