ALKEME Insurance has acquired Virtue Risk Partners, a New York-based managing general agent offering specialty insurance across general casualty, professional, environmental, excess lines and workers' compensation, among other lines.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The deal marks ALKEME's first move into MGA program underwriting, a departure from the retail agency acquisitions that have driven most of its growth. Virtue's platform delivers customized products, risk management expertise, and claims support to contractors, consultants, and engineers across all 50 states, and its team brings more than 65 years of combined casualty and environmental underwriting experience.
ALKEME said it has completed more than 80 acquisitions since 2020, operating from more than 90 locations across 30 states. In 2025, the company reported a 36.2% revenue growth and total revenue of $252 million, which it said made it the fastest-growing brokerage nationally among firms with more than $150 million in revenue. Most of that growth has come from retail agency acquisitions, including eight added in Q2 2026 alone.
Meanwhile, Virtue represents a departure from that pattern. Curtis Barton (pictured), CEO of ALKEME Insurance, said the acquisition reflects a different kind of expansion.
"Virtue Risk Partners represents a different kind of partnership for ALKEME, one that deepens our capabilities in specialty program underwriting and broadens the solutions we can bring to clients across the country," he said. "What drew us to Virtue was the same thing that draws us to every partner we bring on: a team that is deeply client-focused and committed to doing things the right way. We're proud to welcome them to the ALKEME family."
Joseph Valenza, national director of programs for Virtue Risk Insurance Services, said the deal gives the MGA resources to build on its track record.
"Joining ALKEME represents an opportunity to build upon more than a decade of disciplined underwriting, innovation, and growth," he said. "ALKEME provides the scale and resources to accelerate that success, and we are proud to join the family."
The acquisition lands as the US MGA sector continues to expand faster than the property and casualty market overall.
Industry analysis cited by S&P Global Ratings found the US MGA sector has more than doubled in size in recent years, tracking closely with growth in the excess and surplus lines market, as hard market conditions in casualty lines and reduced capacity from traditional carriers push more business through delegated underwriting structures.
Separate research from Conning found the US MGA market exceeded $102 billion in premium as of 2023, the most recent year for which comparable figures are available, growing roughly 13% annually against 10% growth for property-casualty premium overall.
Virtue's core lines sit in segments where market conditions currently favor established, specialist underwriters.
WTW's Insurance Marketplace Realities 2026 report on environmental coverage found relative stability across US environmental markets toward the end of 2025, with carriers expanding product offerings, including combined contractors pollution and professional liability forms similar to those Virtue underwrites.
Aon's environmental market outlook similarly noted that while the site environmental liability segment has faced insurer exits and tighter scrutiny, contractors pollution liability has benefited from increased capacity and broader terms.
On the professional liability side, the National Society of Professional Engineers' 2026 outlook found carriers reporting more frequent requests for higher limits, often $5 million to $10 million or more, as construction inflation raises project values, alongside growing attention to PFAS exposures and climate-related risk.
General liability and casualty lines, where Virtue also specializes, remain exposed to social inflation and rising claim severity, keeping demand elevated for MGAs with disciplined underwriting track records even as other E&S lines, including property and cyber, show early signs of rate softening.
Owning an MGA carries obligations ALKEME's prior strategy has not required. Retail acquisitions add distribution and commission revenue without underwriting risk, while an MGA operates under delegated authority, binding coverage and handling claims on capacity providers' behalf.
That model brings closer scrutiny of underwriting discipline, claims-handling consistency, and reporting, obligations ALKEME has not previously managed at scale.
For a brokerage built primarily through retail agency roll-ups, moving into MGA ownership signals an attempt to capture underwriting margin rather than distribution fees alone, a step several larger brokers have already taken as delegated authority structures have grown.
Virtue's niches sit in segments where carriers are expanding capacity and terms rather than retreating, giving ALKEME room to grow underwriting volume rather than defend existing business.
Whether Virtue becomes a template for further program deals or remains a standalone unit will likely hinge on how well ALKEME's acquisition-driven infrastructure adapts to the delegated authority reporting and claims oversight capacity providers require, a discipline distinct from anything its retail strategy has tested.
