CRC Group, a nationwide wholesale distributor of specialty insurance products, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of W. Brown & Associates Property & Casualty, an Irvine, CA-based surplus lines broker and MGA.
“Together, CRC Group and W. Brown will offer more to our agency customers. Across brokerage and binding, the combination brings outstanding benefits to the retail agents both firms serve in California and beyond,” said Dave Obenauer, CEO of CRC Group. “We are excited to welcome the W. Brown team to the CRC Group family.”
“We are looking forward to leveraging the new tools and resources that CRC Group allows us to bring to our clients,” said Brian English, President of W. Brown & Associates. “Joining CRC Group will strengthen our brokerage and binding operations by giving us access to additional markets, exclusive products, and the REDY data and analytics platform. Our shared values of putting clients first make CRC Group a great partner for W. Brown.”
W. Brown operations include Brokerage, P&C Binding, and Transportation Binding. The addition of W. Brown will expand the CRC Binding franchise with a physical office in California for the first time. It continues the ongoing expansion of CRC Binding following the October acquisition of Specialty Risk Associates as well as the addition of nearly 100 new producers and the opening of several new binding offices during the past year.
“W. Brown’s Binding operations are a critical component for the future as we seek to build on the continued momentum of our binding expansion,” said West McAdams, President of CRC Binding. “We truly are a ‘one-stop-shop’ for the wholesale needs of clients and this addition only serves to add more strength to that commitment.”
W. Brown & Associates will be part of CRC Group’s Commercial Solutions Division. CRC and W. Brown will work together to integrate the brand and operations over the coming months. The terms of the sale were not disclosed. W. Brown & Associates Aviation was not included as part of this transaction.