Noraxis brokerages rebranding to Arthur J. Gallagher

Several Canadian brokerages in the Noraxis group are rebranding to Arthur J. Gallagher, the Itasca, Illinois-based commercial brokerage announced Monday.

The rebranding from Noraxis “marks another major milestone in Gallagher’s quest to become the leading insurance brokerage in Canada,” Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stated in a press release.

The majority of Noraxis Capital Corp. was sold, in 2014, to Gallagher by Roins Financial Services Ltd. Roins owns the RSA Canada group of companies.

Brokerages that are rebranding include CG&B Group Inc., Stevenson & Hunt, Amherst Commercial Insurance, Bell & Grant Insurance, Crain & Schooley Commercial Insurance, Fraser & Hoyt and Renfrew Insurance and Ranger Insurance.

Gallagher previously announced that Ranger, the company’s prairie division, acquired B.R. Rhymer Insurance Agencies Ltd. of Winnipeg. With that agreement, Rhymer, which had been operating under a franchise agreement, became wholly owned by Gallagher. At the time, Gallagher announced Blaine Rhymer was retiring from the market.

Gallagher was ranked fourth by Finaccord Ltd. in a 2014 report, titled Global Insurance Broking: A Strategic Review of the World’s Top 150 Commercial Non-Life Insurance Brokers. Finaccord ranked brokers by estimates of commercial non-life broking revenues in 2013. Aon, Marsh and Willis ranked first, second and third respectively.

In Canada, Gallagher has “expanded from a niche broker with eight offices into an organization that has 25 offices coast-to-coast,” stated Ken Keenan, chief executive officer of Arthur J. Gallagher Canada, in a release.

Worldwide, the firm had 21,500 employees as of Dec. 31, 2015, Gallagher stated in its annual report for 2015.

Gallagher is publicly traded and led by J. Patrick Gallagher Jr. (chairman since 2006, president since 1990 and CEO since 1995), grandson of Arthur Gallagher, who founded the brokerage in 1927.