Buying brokers

When Tampa-based USAmeriBank was presented with a $4.5 million cash offer to sell the insurance brokerage firm it bought 10 months earlier, it was easily persuaded. The quick sale wasn't due to lack of performance — Connelly, Carlisle, Fields & Nichols (CCF&N) was growing quickly — but rather the insurance firm and the bank saw it as an opportunity to expand services for the firm. The deal meant CCF&N would benefit from its acquirer's larger brand, Hub International, but would still be able to maintain a strong relationship with USAmeribank and its clients.

John Connelly, president of CCF&N, says executives of the bank and the agency quickly concluded “in order to pace the growth that (the firm has) been growing at, we need access to more tools.” Connelly says USAmeriBank's deal with Hub International is good for his firm's clients, good for the bank's clients, and an all-around “tremendous business opportunity.” It's a bold statement coming from Connelly, a USAmeriBank shareholder and one of the bank's original organizers.

Connelly's agency, which was made up of 90 employees, has folded into Chicago-based Hub International, one of the world's 10 largest insurance brokerage firms, touting more than 6,000 employees. CCF&N works with clients to match them with homeowners' insurance, flood insurance, and car insurance, in addition to providing businesses with commercial coverages.