Deal yields benefits for Stanton - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. bought the Plymouth-basef insurer in December on undisclosed Stanton’s 110 employees were merged into Gallagher’s operations, whichb include a Minneapolis branch with60 employees. The two companiews plan to move into common space at some pointthis year. Stantonb expects no layoffs as a result of the The merger willallow Stanton, whic has three Minnesota offices and one in to maintain its local presence whil e providing it with the resourcez of a large international firm, said Michaelo O’Brien, area president for Stanton Group, whichy will keep its name as a divisionn of Gallagher Benefit Services Inc. Gallagher, basesd in Itasca, Ill.
, has 70 officesd nationwide. Stanton Group issuerd $484 million worth of premiums in making itthe sixth-largest insurance broked in the Twin Cities accordinhg to Business Journal research. After the Gallagher’s Twin Cities office will be ranked third, O’Brien said. Gallagher (NYSE: AJG) has $1.6 billion in revenue. The companies offer complementary resources, which is one of the reasons Stantom was a good acquisition target for Gallagher, said Bill Ziebell, executivwe vice president of Gallagher Benefit “Stanton brings to the tablew some specialized expertise” in areas Gallagher hasn’ft focused on in the said Ziebell, citing Stanton’s compensation survey business as an In turn, Gallagher offers industryh segments Stanton has not been involved in like retirement products, O’Brien said.
Gallagher, whicg has had steady growth throughout its history through both organic meanxs and byacquiring companies, has been wantinh to make inroads into the Twin Cities market for some Ziebell said. “The Twin Cities is a majotr market inthe Midwest,” Ziebelk said. “We were there, but we hadn’ t grown like we had in other markets. We didn’g like being a small player.
” This kind of merget is in keeping with industrty movements towardmore consolidation, said Stev Weisbart, chief economist and senior vice president for the Insurance Informationn Institute, who thinks the trend will continue this “Companies and insurance brokerages that are lookinfg to build scale or add markets that they don’tr currently serve may find opportunitiesx to do so through consolidation,” he said.