Gallagher Sells Claim Management Operations

NU Online News Service, April 14, 3:24 p.m. EST?Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. insurance brokerage said it has sold Gallagher Benefit Administrators Inc. (GBA) and Northshore International Insurance Services (NiiS).[@@]

Terms of the deals were not announced.

The Itasca, Ill.-based firm said the sale of GBA, a third-party employee benefit claim payment administrator, was to The Parker Group Inc., of Lubbock, Texas.

The Parker Group is a privately held health care management organization. Parker will be responsible for supporting all current GBA clients and will continue to manage customer support from GBA's existing corporate office in Lisle, Ill.

NiiS, which provides medical claims management and auditing services, was sold to NiiS management group. It was part of NiiS/APEX Group Holdings that Gallagher acquired in 2002.

APEX will remain a part of Gallagher Benefit Services Inc.

The sale of these two entities will result in a non-recurring net loss of less than 1 cent of diluted earnings per share in the first quarter of 2005, Gallagher said.