Marsh has signed an agreement to sell its wholesale brokerage operation, Crump Group Inc., to an affiliate of J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC, a New York-based private equity firm.

Terms of the deal were not released.

Marsh, the insurance brokerage arm of New York-based professional services firm Marsh & McLennan Companies, issued a brief statement on the sale today. Marsh said the sale is subject to normal and customary closing conditions.

Marsh's sale of Crump comes after MMC settled earlier this year with New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer over allegations that managers within the organization engaged in steering contracts to insurers in return for profitable volume-based contingent commissions.

MMC announced in May it was exploring the sale of Crump after Willis Group Stewart Smith sold its wholesale brokerage business to American Wholesale. Aon also said it was looking into alternatives for its Swett & Crawford wholesale unit.

Analysts have said the moves were made in an effort to remove any semblance of a conflict of interest from the brokerage firms. In addition to MMC, Aon, Willis and Arthur J. Gallagher have made settlements with attorneys general over steering allegations related to contingency fees.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.