Reliance Global Group has signed a non-binding letter of intent to sell Altruis Benefit Consulting, a Michigan benefits consultancy, for $11 million in cash. The Lakewood, New Jersey-based insurtech company cautioned there is no assurance definitive agreements will be executed or that the transaction will close on the terms or timeline described.
Under the letter of intent, approximately $9.35 million would be paid at closing, with $1.65 million held in an interest-bearing escrow account for 18 months. After repaying its Oak Street Funding term loan of roughly $4.4 million, Reliance projects net incremental cash of about $7.6 million.
Reliance did not name the buyer. For a deal of this size, that leaves the most consequential question for Altruis's clients unanswered: whether broker-of-record status, staff, and existing client relationships will transfer intact once a buyer is disclosed.
The debt repayment is the more revealing detail in the filing. Nearly 40% of the sale proceeds are going toward paying off the Oak Street term loan rather than into new investment. CEO Ezra Beyman described the transaction as a way to "convert a portion of that value into cash and put it to work in the areas we believe offer the greatest growth potential," but a large share of this particular sale is servicing existing debt, not funding anything new. That distinction matters for anyone assessing Reliance as a counterparty or competitor.
This is also the third Michigan benefits divestiture Reliance has made since the start of 2026, following earlier sales of Employee Benefits Solutions, LLC and U.S. Benefits Alliance, LLC. Three sales in a single state in eight months, alongside a debt paydown, is consistent with a deliberate exit from a low-margin distribution business. It's also consistent with a company moving faster than planned to shore up its balance sheet. Reliance's public statements support the first explanation; the debt structure doesn't rule out the second.
Reliance acquired Altruis in September 2019 for approximately $5.5 million in combined cash and stock. Founded in 2002, the firm serves individual and group health insurance clients across Michigan. The proposed $11 million sale price is roughly double the original acquisition cost seven years later.
Reliance didn't disclose Altruis's revenue or EBITDA, so there's no way to check this deal against the market benchmark it cites elsewhere: employee benefits agencies with $1 million or more in revenue are reportedly trading at 9 to 12 times EBITDA in 2026, according to CT Acquisitions. Without Altruis's underlying numbers, whether this sale landed inside, above, or below that range is unknown.
The wider consolidation trend is easier to confirm. Risk Strategies acquired two Greater Detroit benefits firms in January 2025, and HUB International acquired seven Michigan benefits businesses in 2023. Combined with elevated valuations across the benefits-agency category generally, independent Michigan brokers weighing a sale or succession plan are working in a market that currently favors sellers.
Reliance said proceeds would fund its AI platform, launched in July 2026, and its RELI Exchange insurtech network for independent agencies. Health insurance policies written through RELI Exchange grew 72% year-over-year during the 2025 open enrollment period, according to Reliance's February 2026 reporting, and the broker network has grown from roughly 65 to roughly 300 agency partners since 2022.
The sale would leave Reliance with RELI Exchange and its other insurance agency operations while exiting traditional group benefits distribution entirely. The parties are targeting a closing within 60 days, subject to customary conditions. Reliance trades on Nasdaq under the ticker EZRA.
Client continuity, not deal structure, is the open question here. Until Reliance names a buyer, brokers with clients or referral ties to Altruis have no way to know whether service, pricing, or staffing will change.
The pricing environment is the clearer takeaway. Brokers in the $1 million-plus revenue range are commanding 9 to 12 times EBITDA, and three buyers — Reliance's own divestitures, Risk Strategies, and HUB International — have all been active in Michigan's benefits market within the past 18 months. Independent brokers in the state considering a sale or succession plan are operating in a favorable window that may not last.
Reliance's own financial trajectory is worth watching separately from this announcement. A pattern of divestitures paired with debt repayment tells its own story for anyone competing with RELI Exchange or working alongside Reliance-affiliated agencies.
