Hilb Group has acquired a property and casualty insurance agency in Louisiana, effective July 1, 2026, extending the company's presence in its Central region. The Richmond, Virginia-based brokerage did not disclose the name of the acquired agency or the terms of the transaction - the second consecutive Louisiana acquisition Hilb has completed without naming the target, having announced its first Louisiana deal in November 2024 on the same basis. Two undisclosed acquisitions in the same state from the same buyer is unusual enough to suggest a deliberate pattern rather than routine confidentiality, though Hilb has not commented on its disclosure approach.
Hilb Group is a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group and has completed more than 200 acquisitions, operating more than 125 offices across 32 states. Recent deals include agencies in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Georgia, South Carolina, Michigan and New Jersey.
The more interesting question is why Louisiana - and the answer lies in the market's trajectory rather than simply its current state. Louisiana's property insurance market has been under severe strain: an estimated 30% to 40% of mortgage applications in the state fail because of high home insurance costs, per a 2026 Levy Economics Institute analysis, and home insurance premiums run about 38% above the national average, according to a separate 2026 Insurify analysis.
But the direction of travel has changed. State reforms passed in 2024 have produced measurable early results. Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple said 10 new homeowners insurers entered the Louisiana market following the changes, and approved homeowners rate increases slowed to 6.6% in 2024, down from 16.2% in 2022. A market moving from crisis toward stability - with new carrier entrants, moderating rate increases and a large pool of independent agencies without succession plans - is precisely the environment acquisitive brokerages target. Distressed markets suppress valuations; recovering ones create a window before competition for targets intensifies.
The Louisiana deal comes as the broader US insurance agency M&A market has cooled. OPTIS Partners recorded 695 agency deals in 2025, down from 787 in 2024, with the fourth quarter producing the fewest transactions since 2019. The pool of active acquirers narrowed to 95 firms from 104 the prior year.
