Brokerage stocks soar amidst takeover rumours

Brokerage stocks for the week ending April 19 climbed by more than 4% on A.M. Best’s Global Insurance Composite, to close the period as the biggest gainer among the sector specific and regional indexes. Closing the week up 1.15%, this marked an all-time high for the A.M. Best Global Index on April 18. The A.M. Best global brokers index was up 4.01% and the U.S. brokers index was up 4.51%. A.M. Best speculates that the brokers indexes may have been affected by media speculation of a possible takeover bid of brokerage giant Marsh & McLennan, ranked No. 1 on Best’s Review’s 2006 list of Top Global Insurance Brokers. Marsh’s stock rose by 7.04%, taking a spot among the best-performing individual stocks on the global index of 182 publicly traded insurers and brokers, according to A.M. Best.There’ve been numerous rumors of a Marsh takeover in recent years. One of the more recent was a news report that broker Willis Corp., ranked third by Best’s Review, and investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts had offered to buy Marsh, which lost some footing as a result of the bid-rigging scandals and investigations that began in 2004, reported A.M. Best.