Large Canadian brokerages grow larger through acquisitions

Two large Canadian property and casualty brokerages — Navacord and Westland Insurance — continue to grow with the announcement of their latest acquisitions in Ontario and Manitoba.

On Thursday, commercial brokerage Navacord Corp. said it added Ontario-based brokerages Ives Insurance Brokers Ltd. and Northern Insurance Brokers to its ranks. “Representing Navacord’s largest partnerships in Ontario this year, together the two deals deepen the company’s reach in two unique regions and significantly expands its presence across the province,” Navacord said in a press release.

Serving northern Ontario communities since 1941, Northern Insurance Brokers is a full-service brokerage with many multi-generational clients within the local community. Northern Insurance places both personal and commercial lines, with mid-market clients across the construction, contracting, forestry, manufacturing, and municipal public practice sectors.

For its part, Ives Insurance is a family-owned operation that offers wide-ranging expertise spanning home and auto insurance, as well as specialty coverage for the transportation, hospitality, construction and manufacturing sectors. The large independent commercial brokerage serves the southwest Ontario region.

“The addition of Ives Insurance, a fast-growing business, solidifies our leadership in the transportation insurance space,” said T. Marshall Sadd, executive chairman of Navacord. The two latest brokerage acquisitions represent a total of 15 partnerships for Navacord to date in 2021.

For its part, Westland Insurance Group Ltd. said Wednesday it had acquired Harvest Insurance in Steinbach, Man. The brokerage in Manitoba’s third-largest city provides personal and commercial insurance.

With its latest acquisition, Westland now has more than 180 locations in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Similar to Navacord, Westland has made a number of M&A announcements this year. Most recently, in early October Westland acquired personal and commercial lines brokerage Insurance Unlimited in Mississauga, Ont.

In mid-September, Westland announced its third acquisition over a one-week period with the acquisition of commercial brokerage Tredd Insurance in Toronto and Calgary. Tredd has expertise in the transportation and energy sectors.

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