Brown & Brown’s Canadian business has become a preferred insurance partner to commercial real estate investors working with Marcus & Millichap, extending a US relationship north of the border and putting a large broker in front of investors while they are still evaluating acquisitions.
Under the expanded arrangement, announced on October 8, Marcus & Millichap’s Canadian clients and investment professionals will get streamlined access to Brown & Brown for insurance placement, specialty risk consulting, portfolio analysis and due diligence. Brown & Brown will also provide resources to help investors evaluate acquisition opportunities and operating risks. The deal sits within Marcus & Millichap’s Preferred Partner Program, which connects clients with selected outside providers.
Marcus & Millichap, a US-listed commercial real estate investment brokerage, has 80 offices across Canada and the US. Its chief growth officer, Richard Matricaria, said the firm’s Canadian professionals combine local market expertise with the reach of its North American network. Dan Cioci, executive vice president and director of Brown & Brown’s National Real Estate Practice, said the broker was glad to expand the relationship and to highlight the talent and capabilities it already has in Canada.
The Canadian announcement extends a program launched in the US in June. Brown & Brown was the first insurance provider named, giving its National Real Estate Practice access to Marcus & Millichap’s 1,808 investment sales and financing professionals, in a brokerage that closed 8,818 transactions worth US$50.8 billion in 2025.
Both firms framed the June deal around the weight insurance now carries in property transactions. Matricaria said then that insurance “has become a critical component of investment analysis and transaction execution.” Cioci said insurance costs were playing a larger role in valuation and execution, and that investors want clarity earlier in the process. The announcements do not say whether other brokers can be named in the program’s insurance category.
The release describes Brown & Brown’s Canadian presence only in general terms, but the firm has built it through acquisitions. They include the 2020 purchase of Special Risk Insurance Managers, a Canadian managing general agent that became part of its programs division.
In 2023, it acquired Highcourt Partners, including the Toronto-based Highcourt Breckles Group, which became the US broker’s first retail brokerage operation in Canada. At the time, Brown & Brown said it planned to grow its Canadian presence from that base.
For Canadian commercial brokers who specialize in real estate, the preferred-partner position matters at the point of acquisition, when coverage is often placed or reviewed. An investor who reaches Brown & Brown through Marcus & Millichap at due diligence may never put the placement out to an incumbent broker or the buyer’s existing advisor, though neither firm has said how exclusive the arrangement is.
