Mergers and Acquisitions in the U.S. Insurance Industry

The challenging market condition for insurance carriers has become intense so that insurance companies look for all the feasible options for survival including consolidation with other insurance carriers, agent and broker networks and even non-insurance financial institutions. Using event study methodology, our study investigates whether the mergers and acquisitions of US insurers create value and there is strategic advantage for insurance carriers to consider cross-industry consolidations. We analyze all within-border mergers and acquisitions during 2003~2012 where either or both of the acquirer and target are US insurance carrier. We find that insurance mergers and acquisitions have positive valuation effects on acquiring firms, especially for the cross-industry mergers and acquisitions.