Marsh, a wholly owned subsidiary of New York-based Marsh & McLennan Cos. (NYSE: MMC), is acquiring Houston-based Wortham Insurance, an independent insurance brokerage with operations in Fort Worth, as well as Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.
Founded in 1915, Wortham provides property/casualty insurance, surety, personal lines, and employee benefits advice and solutions to a wide range of businesses and individuals throughout the U.S.
Upon completion of the transaction, Marsh will expand its footprint in Texas to include the Austin and Fort Worth markets and will merge its existing operations in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, New Orleans and Tulsa with Wortham. The combined business will operate as Marsh Wortham with Richard M. Blades, who is currently chairman of Wortham, as CEO. He will report to Martin South, president of Marsh’s U.S. and Canada division. Blades will also serve as chairman of Marsh’s Energy & Power Practice in the U.S. Wortham has 530 employees.
Terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018, were not disclosed.