Michael Rea: How AssuredPartners deal will help grow Gallagher’s UK and Ireland arm

Gallagher’s UK and Ireland chief executive, Michael Rea, has labelled his firm’s acquisition of AssuredPartners as a “massive deal”, saying it is “probably the biggest retail transaction” the broker has done in the UK during his 10 years at the broking business.

The transaction was first announced in December 2024, with Gallagher making the swoop in order to scale its UK and Ireland arm and expand its retail middle-market property and casualty offering across the US.

The acquisition completed earlier this week (18 August 2025), with the deal seeing circa 1,000 new colleagues join Gallagher’s headcount and adding over 900,000 new clients to the broker across the UK and Ireland.

“It’s probably the biggest retail transaction we’ll have done in the UK, certainly in my time here in 10 years,” Rea tells Insurance Times. 

“By any measure, it’s a really scale transaction and that grows our retail operations by about 20% and it grows our overall UK [and Ireland] business by slightly less than 10%.

“It’s material and builds on what is already a very scale operation that we have.”

Staff growth 

Gallagher’s UK and Ireland workforce will significantly expand as a result of its purchase, with 700 colleagues joining the broker’s UK team and 300 staff being added to its Ireland operation.

Overall, Gallagher’s total headcount will increase to more than 8,000 colleagues across this jurisdiction.

Rea stresses that overlap between how the two brokers currently operate is not an issue, explaining that the deal is more about how to bring two organisations seamlessly together.

He says: “We buy businesses to help them grow and what we can bring to the table is, given our scale, some of the tools we have in data and insight, some of the capabilities that we have that perhaps AssuredPartners doesn’t have.

“It’s about how do you bring those two organisations together. So, it’s not about finding overlaps and eliminating them. I’d rather have two bites of the cherry than one bite at the cherry.”

A ‘really powerful’ combination 

In addition to an increase in staff, Gallagher is also now able to boast ownership of AssuredPartners’ full business portfolio, including UK organisations such as excess and surplus focused broker Harman Kemp, commercial lines and private clients company Romero Insurance Brokers and CIA Insurance Services, a broker servicing landlords.

In Ireland, meanwhile, AssuredPartners’ broking stable of Gallivan Murphy Insurance Brokers, O’Callaghan Insurances and CFM Group will also join Gallagher.

Rea says that, from a complementary portfolio perspective, the teams and brands coming into Gallagher are “incredibly strong”.

He adds: “[AssuredPartners has] got a very strong presence in the mid-market, [it is] strong in SME. So, [it has] some businesses that are exclusively set up in that small business segment.

“[It is] strong in mid net worth, high net worth, personal lines insurance. So, across all the segments where we play, [AssuredPartners plays] as well.”

He highlighted that the deal also provides entry into new areas for Gallagher, using Romero Insurance Brokers as an example.

The Leeds-based broker was snapped up by AssuredPartners in 2023. It is made up of two subsidiaries – Romero Insurance Brokers, which specialises in construction and manufacturing placements, as well as Club Insure, which operates in the leisure and sports club sector.

Rea says: “[AssuredPartners] has got some businesses that are very strong in the scheme space.

“Romero is probably the biggest transaction [it has] done in the UK and it [has] got a couple of really attractive schemes, especially in the club and sports club space.

“That’s something that we didn’t have and when you think about that expertise, trying to channel that through our distribution, that’s what makes [this deal] really, really powerful.”

Integration process

Now that the deal has officially completed, the next phase for Gallagher is the integration of AssuredPartners, Rea comments.

As part of the deal, the relevant AssuredPartners teams and brands will move into Gallagher’s UK and Ireland retail division, with some colleagues and specialisms becoming part of its London market specialty operation.

Rea says the whole process is “usually a 12 to 18-month set of work streams” and that a team will be dedicated to this process throughout the rest of 2025 and into 2026.

While harmonising technology systems and platforms is always a key component of M&A integration, Rea says that the people element is, in fact, the “critical bit in integration”.

He adds: “Integration is one of those words which actually covers a multitude of different work streams.

“The really important bit is the hearts and minds first and foremost. That’s about making people feel part of the Gallagher family and that is something that never ends.

“That’s about how we engage with people, how we communicate with them and how we make them feel valued and part of a new organisation.”

Rea plans to visit AssuredPartners’ key sites over the next few months, speaking to its leaders and listening to what staff want to talk about.

He says: “I’ve met a number of the key leaders, our retail guys I know are out and about and we’ve equipped them really well to have those initial conversations and just to be the human face of an organisation.

“That’s what I’ll be doing over the next couple of months and what my executive colleagues will be doing as well.

“It’s about sitting in front of people with humility – it’s not just about telling them about Gallagher, it’s about doing a bit more listening than talking [and] listening to concerns – because there are always naturally concerns when people go through change – and trying to be really thoughtful.

“The more you communicate, the more you listen and the more you engage, the more you build trust, which is critical in any integration process.”