JLT Acquires Irish Agribusiness Broker FBD

Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc said it has acquired Dublin-based commercial broker FBD Insurance Brokers Ltd. in a deal that will expand its agribusiness expertise and increase its activities in Ireland.

JLT put the initial price at 6.75 million euros ($8.7 million). Financial performance could raise the total by up to 1.75 million euros.

The acquisition was made by JLT Insurance Brokers (Ireland) Ltd., the group’s Irish subsidiary. The seller was FBD Insurance, the insurance underwriting arm of the Irish financial services organization FBD Holdings plc.

JLT will also acquire FBD Risk Management Services Ltd. and International Loss Control Services Ltd. ILCS focuses on motor insurance claims management.

JLT Ireland's absorption of the activities of FBD Brokers will be part of the group's established practice of expanding internationally while developing operations in specialist markets.

JLT Ireland, which has 100 employees in Dublin and Cork, describes itself as Ireland's fifth-largest insurance broker. Its parent, JLT Group, is the world's sixth-largest insurance broker, based on a ranking by Best's Review magazine.

Adrian Girling, chairman of JLT's Irish business, said JLT was attracted to FBD Insurance Brokers by its presence in the agribusiness insurance market. "It looks after a significant proportion of the food manufacturing businesses ranging from creameries through to the larger manufacturing businesses," Girling said.

FBD Insurance Brokers, Girling said, fits well with JLT's strategy of building its specialty operations. JLT has long had a high regard for FBD as a brokerage and was waiting for "the opportunity to have a proper conversation with them," he said. "And we did so earlier this year [2011]."

JLT's existing specialty portfolio ranges from telecoms to construction, Girling said. The FBD deal will add further to the coverage the group can offer clients, he added.

Girling conceded there is economic uncertainty in Ireland. But he pointed to what he said are signs of renewed growth. Girling also stressed the strength of the Irish agribusiness sector.

JLT's competitors in these lines in Ireland would include the big brokers, Girling said.

"There is nobody else out there that would have a position as significant as ourselves," he said. "But Marsh, Willis, Aon would all have something."

FBD Brokers, which focuses on large corporate and commercial customers, was founded in 1973. It has 33 employees. In addition to agribusiness, it operates in renewable energy and waste management.

Eamonn Bergin, managing director of FBD Brokers, said in a statement that the arrival of JLT "will provide strong foundations for the continued growth and successful development of the combined business."

(By Robert O'Connor, London editor: Robert.OConnor@ambest.com)