B.F. Lorenzetti buys Vancouver firm (December 01, 2001)

Montreal-based B.F. Lorenzetti (BFL) is set to buy a majority interest in Vancouver’s Stewarts Insurance Services Ltd. The move is the latest in an acquisition phase that has netted commercial brokerage offices in Halifax and Quebec City. BFL says the acquisition makes it the largest independent commercial brokerage with 132 employees and over $125 million in annual premium billings.

The move also gives BFL a presence in Western Canada. “Our objective is to establish a clear national alternative and to take advantage of the lack of choice that has developed in the insurance marketplace as a result of industry consolidation and mergers between large brokers during the past few years,” says BFL founder and president Barry Lorenzetti.

He stresses the company’s “made in Canada” advantage over other foreign-owned multi-national commercial firms. “BFL’s growth strategy is designed to exploit gaps in service that are the inevitable result of post-consolidation restructuring and rationalization by the multi-national firms,” the company states. Stewarts in turn was looking for a national presence to join with, says president Alan Johnson.

BFL also recently made headlines as the first Canadian brokerage to gain direct access to the Lloyd’s of London market. The Stewarts acquisition is expected to close by yearend, but details of the sale have not been released.