BrokerLink buys Burlington brokerage

For the sixth time so far in 2023, BrokerLink has grown its market share through M&A, this time with the acquisition of Burlington, Ont.-based T.K. WoodMar Insurance & Financial Group.

WoodMar has offered commercial (business owner, liability and commercial vehicle), personal home, auto, and life insurance in the Burlington region since 2008, according to WoodMar’s website.

“We pride ourselves on offering excellent service, advice and competitive rates,” Kevin Woodcox, president of WoodMar Insurance, said of the deal, which took effect June 1. “I’m confident that joining BrokerLink will benefit our customers through access to their network of expertise and specialized insurance offerings, as well as their enhanced technology capabilities.”

In an interview with CU last month, BrokerLink president Joe D’Annunzio said his firm sees plenty of M&A opportunities in provinces where it currently operates and doesn’t have any immediate plans to expand into new geographic areas.

Instead, BrokerLink will focus its resources on areas where it already has scale — Alberta, Ontario and the Atlantic Canada provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador, the president said.

Regarding the newest acquisition, WoodMar employees will join BrokerLink’s team and continue to provide local expertise and personalized service to the firm’s existing and new customers in the Burlington region.

“I know we share this purpose with our newest employees, who will join our network of dedicated insurance brokers across the country to deliver local, tailored solutions and choice to their customers,” D’Annunzio added in a press release announcing the deal.

While acquisitions like this one show there’s still plenty of steam left in the brokerage buyout engine, CU’s 2023 National Broker Survey showed declining support for two key brokerage growth strategies, including M&A. Brokers have told CU that the increased cost of capital (because of higher interest rates and borrowing costs) has had some impact on the appetite for deal-making.

Eagerness to conduct mergers and acquisitions as a means to grow businesses fell to 23%, just slightly ahead of the 21% seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. That number is also below the 26%-to-31% range between 2020 and 2022.

Plus, appetite for geographic expansion slipped to 24%, its lowest in the past five years and 7% below 2022.

With files from Jason Contant. Feature image courtesy of iStock.com/Andrii Yalanskyi