NU Online News Service, Jan. 4, 3:56 p.m.EST

If the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011 is any sign of thingsto come from a mergers and acquisitions perspective, then this yearcould be a very active season for brokerages.

During the month of December, two of the most prolific insurancebrokerage firm acquirers, Arthur J. Gallagher and Brown &Brown, announced seven acquisitions between them.

There were also five other announced acquisitions inDecember:

o Marsh & McLennan Agencies' acquisition of Trion Group.

o USI's acquisition of Mastors & Servant

o Aon's acquisition of Insurance.ie

o Integro's acquisition of Reinsurance Advisory Services

o Ryan Specialty's acquisition of OakBridge Insurance Services

This month, in just a few short days, there have been eightannounced acquisitions.

The most significant is Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC sayingit has acquired Alpharetta, Ga.-based Strategic BenefitSolutions.

The benefits brokerage and consulting firm, with approximately$4 million in revenue, was founded in 1998 and offers a range ofemployee benefits services to middle market clients. The firm willoperate within the Rutherford division of MMA.

MMA is a subsidiary of insurance broker Marsh, which is a partof Marsh & McLennan Companies.

Chicago-based insurance broker HUB International announced fouracquisitions today.

The acquired firms are:

o Benefit Resources, a retail employee benefits insurancebrokerage firm in Colorado Springs, Colo.

o Sander A. Kessler & Assoc., a Santa Monica, Calif.-basedinsurance brokerage firm.

o Hall-Conway-Jackson and Cascade Insurance Group, both Bothell,Wash.-based insurance brokerage and employee benefit firms thatshare joint ownership.

o Davis & Graeber Insurance Services of Redlands, Calif.

From Kansas City, Mo., insurance broker Lockton said today thatits subsidiary, Lockton Dunning Benefits in Dallas, acquiredGrizzaffi Darby, LLC. The two firms will combine to provide healthand welfare benefits consulting expertise, productivity andwellness consulting through “a high touch service model.”

Grizzaffi, with 16 employees, will take the Lockton Dunning namebut remain at its current office in Denton, Texas. The combinedoperation employs 150 associates.

Two firms that are not major acquisition players also announcedsome M&A activity.

Alliant Insurance Services, a major specialty insurancebrokerage firm based in Newport Beach, Calif., said yesterday thatit has acquired New York City-based T&H Group.

T&H Group is a regional full-service insurance brokeragefirm that operated as Tanenbaum-Harber Co. until changing its namein 2010. It was established in 1860 and primarily targets uppermiddle market clients throughout the eastern region of thecountry.

T&H has 242 employees in offices in nine states: New York,New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland,Illinois, Florida and California.

Also announced yesterday, Kingston, N.Y.-based Ryan & RyanInsurance Brokers acquired Reis Turck Associates' insuranceportfolio.

The acquisition, the second since Ryan & Ryan opened in2009, increases the firm's annual sales by 25 percent, with aninsurance portfolio that now covers over 1,100 clients.

Financial terms of the transactions announced this week were notreleased.