Another small-town Saskatchewan brokerage gets bought by large U.S. firm

Hub International Ltd. has bought its second Saskatchewan property and casualty insurance brokerage in less than a month.

Chicago-based Hub said Tuesday it has acquired Kamsack-based Cottenie and Gardner Inc. Kamsack is a town of about 1,800, situated near the Manitoba border about 250 kilometres northeast of Regina.

Cottenie and Gardner’s offerings include home and auto insurance as well as real estate.

Its co-owners, Ted Gardner and Les Fedora, will be joining Hub International Manitoba Limited, Hub said Tuesday.

In addition to home and auto, Cottenie and Gardner also places farm insurance, including coverage for machinery, buildings, liability and livestock.

The terms of the Hub acquisition were not disclosed. The Cottenie and Gardner deal came about four weeks after Hub acquired Kelliher Agencies, which places home, auto, farm and commercial insurance.

Kelliher is a small community, about halfway between Kamsack and Regina, in the Rural Municipality of Kellross No. 247.

Kelliher Agencies’s commercial insurance includes auto, liability, surety, builder’s risk, aviation and directors and officers. As part of the Kelliher acquisition, brokerage co-owner Craig Bolton joined HUB International Manitoba, Hub said May 6.

Formed in 1998 through the merger of 11 Canadian brokerages, Hub also owns HKMB Hub and managing general agency Totten. The majority of Hub is owned by investment funds managed by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC.

In addition to Cottenie and Gardner and Kelliher, other recent Hub P&C acquisitions in Western Canada include Vancouver-based Callow Insurance Associates Ltd.’s entertainment book of business and Calgary-based Del Fisher Insurance Inc., which places home, auto, business and contract bonding.

In Eastern Canada, Hub recently acquired Montreal-based commercial P&C brokerage Forum Risques et Assurances Inc., whose clients include construction firms.

In 2018, Hub acquired online brokerage Insurance Hunter when it bought the P&C insurance operations of Windsor, Ont.-based Cypher Systems Group. Insurance Hunter says its “hunters” will “find you 7+ quotes in 3 minutes of less.”

With the Cypher Systems deal, Hub also acquired Southland Insurance Brokers Inc., which has bricks-and-mortar offices in Windsor, Leamington, Tecumseh and Harrow.