Jones Brown Inc., a prominent national brokerage and insurance consultancy, has acquired Hamilton-based Pearson Dunn Insurance Inc. The transaction is set to double the firm’s business operations in Ontario.
Privately held Jones Brown boasts over 81 brokers in Canada, and more than 10,000 broker partners worldwide. It targeted Pearson Dunn in order to establish a “strategic foothold” and better serve clients in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
Pearson Dunn, also an independent brokerage, was founded over 100 years ago in Hamilton, Ontario. It specializes in property and auto insurance, as well as risk management solutions in the commercial sector. Its president described the merger as “a natural fit for two great brokerages.”
“Joining these two firms means a tremendous amount of opportunity, mostly to our valued clients as they now have an expanded physical presence for our service in Ontario, and equally so to our underwriting partners and employees as we continue to build Canada’s most trusted insurance business,” Jones Brown CEO John Hawkrigg said in a statement.
In February, Jones Brown announced that VRG Capital was leading a management buyout of the brokerage.
At the time, VRG Capital managing partner Rod Campbell said that this would allow the brokerage to “…develop Jones Brown’s ambitious growth plan, focusing on expanding its current service offering and creating innovative and tailored solutions to the market.”
