I'm looking to acquire an independent insurance agency and to this point
I've had no luck locating a (good) broker or agent to assist me.  I'm trying
to find a company or individual that specializes in this sort of thing.
I've already tried numerous business brokers but they have few if any
insurance agencies available.  I've also tried all the popular internet
services (agencies4sale, BizBuySell, Yahoo, etc...) with no luck.
Location is not all that important although something in the South East
US would be preferred.

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Request for Question Clarification by xemion-ga on 07 Jul 2002 20:15 PDT

"I'm trying to find a company or individual that specializes in this
sort of thing."

What sort of thing?  Can you better define what you're looking for in
an independent insurance agency?  Thanks.

xemion-ga

Hello,

I've found five different businesses that should be able to suit your
needs.  Here they are:

H. E. Candage, Inc
http://www.insurancemergers.com

Gill and Roeser, Inc.
http://www.gillroeser.com

Merger & Acquisition Services, Inc.
http://www.merger-acquisition.org

Harbor Capital Advisors, Inc.
http://www.harborcapitaladvisors.com

Agency Consulting Group, Inc.
http://www.agencyconsulting.com

To find these companies, I searched Google for "insurance acquisition
consulting" (without quotes).

I hope this helps you.  Please feel free to ask for clarification if
necessary and if you're satified with the answer, please rate it.
Thanks!
     
xemion-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by agent0-ga on 18 Jul 2002 17:31 PDT

Thanks for the links, I have already tried two of these but there are a few
that are new.  However, it appears that these firms deal with much larger
operations than myself.  I will give them a call tomorrow and if they can
provide any assistance then I will consider the answers satisfactory. If not,
I'll let you know.  

Thanks again
Agent0

None of the links that were supplied as the answer were able to
provide
any assistance.  Of the 5 links provided, I had tried two in the past.
Of the
other three, One had no insurance agencies, one only provided
consulting assistance and the other never replied ( I get the felling
they only work
with larger operations).  I think the researcher made a sincere
effort,
but unfortunately I still don't have a contact to help me locate an
insurace
agency (which was my goal).

You may want to try contacting a company called The Manhattan Group
at:

http://www.tmgnyc.com/whatwedo_fset.html

Their web page has a "What we do" section that includes the following:

"The Manhattan Group brings to every buyer and seller the proven
experience of specialists who have structured transactions for
numerous clients, large and small alike. Capital transactions
involving a change in ownership, particularly those involving
insurance businesses, are exceedingly complex. Recognizing this,
clients turn to The Manhattan Group for our balanced and comprehensive
understanding of the insurance business and our expertise in
consummating deals. For both buyers and sellers, we devote the full
resources of our organization to direct involvement in each phase of
the transaction including negotiation, due diligence, structuring,
financing and closing. We have gained a trusted reputation in
insurance mergers and acquisition for efficiency, success and client
satisfaction."


Whether they can help initiate a deal or not isn't fully clear, but
even if not, they clearly know the industry you're interested in, and
could perhaps steer you to others who could provide more direct
assistance.

Google search:  ["insurance industry"  Business Valuation Specialists]

Congratulations xemion-ga,

It would appear you were able to provide a satisfactory answer to a
question I spent well over eighteen hours trying to answer only to
have my answer and clarifications rejected. You deserve the prize.

webbob-ga

Thank you for the compliment, webbob.  Keep trying!

xemion-ga