(Bloomberg) -- Willis Group Holdings Plc, the third-largestinsurance broker by market value, agreed to take a majority stakein Miller Insurance Services LLP to add shipping clients.

Willis will take an 85% stake, and partners of Miller willretain the remainder, the London-based buyer said today in astatement that didn’t disclose terms. The deal is expected to becompleted next quarter, according to the statement.

Willis Chief Executive Officer Dominic Casserley has been makingacquisitions to add clients as he trims expenses by moving jobs tolower-cost locations. Casserley has announced at least seven dealssince taking the top post in January of 2013.

Consolidation “is how the bigger brokers have been built,” MeyerShields, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., said in aninterview before today’s announcement. Willis’s plan to maintainMiller as a separate brand could allow Casserley’s firm to buildrelationships “with clients or even employees who don’t want towork with, or for, one of the big global brokers.”

The deal will help Willis expand in the wholesale market, wherecompanies act as intermediaries between retail brokers andinsurers. Both companies started as marine insurers more than acentury ago. Willis’ global marine business manages more than $2billion of premiums annually, according to the company’swebsite.

“When you look at the wholesale market, what you’re talkingabout are individual niches of expertise that you can’t justreplicate,” Shields said. Miller has a “very strong reputation butis at an intensified competitive disadvantage because of theirsize.”

The deal positions Willis to benefit from a rebound in shipping.Rates are still recovering after owners ordered too many vesselsbefore the 2009 global recession.

Shipping Profits

The ClarkSea Index of industrywide earnings rose 0.4% to $12,232a day in the 12 months through the middle of October, according toClarkson Plc, the world’s largest ship broker. The 2012 average of$9,585.63 a day was the lowest since at least 1990. Earnings peakedat $50,702 a day in 2008, data show.

Miller, which has no external shareholders, had revenue of 112.9million pounds ($190 million) in the year ended April 30, accordingto its website. The London-based company has offices in locationsincluding Belgium, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Brazil.

Casserley’s acquisition strategy focuses on “specialtysituations which have strong franchises,” he said Oct. 29 in aconference call, after announcing earlier in the month that hiscompany was in talks with Miller. “We would not be going aftervolume.”

Willis announced plans in April to eliminate jobs and relocate3,500 workers to lower-cost locations. The broker has about 18,000employees in about 120 countries, according to its website.

Perella Weinberg Partners advised Willis, and Evercore PartnersInc. was the bank for Miller, a spokesman for the buyer said byphone.

--With assistance from Isaac Arnsdorf in New York.

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