Huntington Bancshares has signaled an intention to grow its recently acquired insurance brokerage business by acquiring a Columbus, Ohio-based insurance agency.
Huntington Bancshares Inc., which is also based in Columbus, said it has acquired Archer-Meek-Weiler Agency Inc. Monetary particulars of the deal were not released.
Archer-Meek-Weiler was founded in 1909 and is a full-service agency selling personal and commercial insurance as well as group benefits.
The agency was merged into Sky Insurance Inc., Huntington Bancshares' insurance agency affiliate, effective today.
Huntington Bancshares acquired Sky Insurance in July as part of the acquisition of Sky Financial Group, an $18 billion financial services company based in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Huntington Bancshares said the acquisition of Archer-Meek-Weiler represents over $60 million in premium volume and brings an additional 40 employees to the insurance firm. The company said it anticipates all of the agency's employees will be retained and remain in the Columbus area.
In a statement, Jerry Batt, president of Sky Insurance, said that not only would Archer-Meek-Weiler add expertise to the firm, but it would also help develop its strategy to “expand client relationships within Huntington's Central Ohio Region, where there is already a strong banking presence.”
Sky Insurance offers personal, life and health, and commercial insurance services in the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana and West Virginia. It offers risk consulting services and operates a wholesale brokerage business, Celaris Brokerage, that works with small insurance agencies.
A company spokeswoman, Jeri Grier-Ball, said that prior to the acquisition of Sky Financial, Huntington's insurance practice was strictly personal lines service. Services grew into other lines after the acquisition of Sky Financial.
Prior to the acquisition, Sky Financial had reported revenues of $75 million and more than $1 billion in premium. The operation consists of 90 sales professionals throughout 24 offices.
Sky Insurance's name will be changed to Huntington at some point next year, said Ms. Ball. Plans call for continued growth both through acquisition and organically, she added.
Huntington Bancshares is a $54 billion regional bank holding company.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.