An Ottawa insurance firm with roots that stretch back more than four decades has been acquired by a U.S.-based global brokerage.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an insurance, risk management and consulting services firm headquartered in Illinois, announced earlier this month it has bought Ottawa’s Leystone Insurance & Financial. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In a statement, Gallagher president and CEO J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr. called Leystone a “well-regarded firm” that will “strengthen Gallagher’s footprint in Ottawa.”
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Leystone, which offers employee benefits, retirement consulting, financial planning and individual insurance services, has six employees. In a news release, Gallagher said Leystone’s associates will continue to work out of the firm’s current office on Laperriere Avenue under the direction of Leslie Lemenager, head of Gallagher’s international employee benefits consulting and brokerage operations.
Although Leystone has existed under its current name only since 2016, its origins go much further back.
Co-founder Darryl Phippen first entered the industry in 1977, when he joined local firm Halpenny Insurance Brokers. In 2001, he founded Halpenny Insurance Benefit Partners with fellow broker David McCulloch, and two years ago the pair teamed up to launch Leystone Insurance & Financial.
The fourth-largest insurance brokerage in the world, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG) has operations in 34 countries and offers services in more than 150 countries through a network of correspondent brokers and consultants.