Milwaukee area insurance brokerage and employee benefits firm HNI Risk Services has been bought by Michigan-based Acrisure LLC, a move that will allow the New Berlin-based company to embrace new growth opportunities, said chief executive officer Mike Natalizio.
As an agency partner of Acrisure, HNI will maintain its same name, local leadership and employees. The deal closed Dec. 31.
“There will be absolutely no changes to the day to day operations for HNI,” Natalizio said. “It’s business as usual. The same leadership and the same decision makers, the same office and the same staff.”
The deal will allow HNI to propel its own growth by drawing from the resources and scale of the large brokerage firm, Natalizio said.
“We will be looking at growing through organic growth, taking our services national and also through M&A,” he said. “We’ll be looking at merging and acquiring brokers across the Midwest.”
Based in Grand Rapid, Michigan, Acrisure has about 282 agency partners with nearly 400 locations and 6,000 employees in total. The company advertises itself as the 10th largest insurance brokerage in the United States. Acrisure has 145 employees, according to its website.
“We seek out high-performing entrepreneurial agencies that will embrace the model and look to continue to be successful in what they do,” said Colleen O’Hara, executive vice president of marketing and communications for Acrisure, regarding the acquisition.
HNI focuses on working with mid-sized organizations, with its largest industry groups being transportation, construction, manufacturing and nonprofits.
In addition to its New Berlin headquarters, HNI has offices in Bloomington, Minnesota and Inverness, Illinois.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
