Sedgwick's new acquisition pushes it further into loss-adjustment space

Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire global loss-adjusting, claims management and risk-solutions firm Cunningham Lindsey.

Cunningham Lindsey assists businesses, insurance companies, brokers and policyholders by offering expert support when losses occur, such as during natural disasters. The company’s 6,000 professionals comprise local teams in 600 offices across 60 countries.

Sedgwick’s strategic acquisition of Cunningham Lindsey not only broadens the company’s international footprint, but will also help to bolster its status as a global provider of risk and benefit solutions.

In conversation with PropertyCasualty360, David North, Sedgwick’s president and CEO, noted that no third-party administrator has ever enjoyed such breadth and depth of shared capabilities and resources as the ones afforded by the Cunningham Lindsey acquisition. The deal, he noted, offers Cunningham Lindsey empowering scale, recruitment power and training in what he called the “highly fragmented” loss-adjustment space, an area North believes is in serious need of transformation.

The Cunningham Lindsey group includes a range of services throughout all aspects of the risk management life cycle, including pre- and post-loss, specialties in loss adjusting, third-party claims administration, global account management, forensic engineering and restoration, and repair consulting, among others.

These, North added, do much to complement the existing offerings of Sedgwick and subsidiary Vericlaim, the acquisition of which three years ago marked Sedgwick’s first real entry into the property loss-adjusting space.

Once the deal is finalized, North added, Sedgwick “will have about 7,000 colleagues in the property-loss adjustment area alone.”

“Joining forces with Sedgwick and Vericlaim presents an opportunity to provide our clients an end-to-end service solution around the world,” Jane Tutoki, Cunningham Lindsey’s global CEO, said in a statement. “We are excited about the next step in this journey with Sedgwick and Vericlaim to offer a truly global path to transform the way we provide our services together.”

The transaction’s close is subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals.