Arthur J Gallagher has acquired The Oval Group for a total net consideration of approximately £199 million.
Both Oval Healthcare and Oval Financial Services will now become part of the consultancy’s UK-based Arthur J Gallagher Employee Benefits, led by chief executive officer Tim Johnson (pictured).
The acquisition will enable the organisation to extend its employee benefits business and geographic reach into 10 new areas, using Oval’s regional presence in the north of England to help achieve critical mass.
AJ Gallagher Employee Benefits will now have 14 offices and more than 230 employees across the UK, with 160 employees joining from The Oval Group. Eight new branch locations will also be added in areas including Nottingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Bristol and Lytham St Anne’s.
Johnson said: “It is an excellent fit for us in a number of areas. We have a strong presence in London and the south-east but Oval has strength in the west.
”This acquisition is a real game-changer for us. By bringing the healthcare, corporate benefits and wealth management business into Arthur J. Gallagher Employee Benefits, we simultaneously widen our portfolio, extend our geographic reach and increase our scale.
“Our strong large client healthcare proposition and breadth of opportunities, combined with Oval’s robust and efficient serving mechanisms for smaller schemes, should provide a winning combination for organic growth in the UK medical market.”
Peter Blanc, group chief executive officer of Oval, added: “I’m delighted to have been able to bring our financial services and healthcare teams into the Arthur J. Gallagher family, alongside the insurance broking business, where [it] offers not only complementary but transformational skills and expertise to a business now primed to grow at pace.”
