Aon Nears $17 Billion Deal to Acquire USI from KKR

Aon, a management consulting company, is close to a roughly $17 billion deal, including debt, to acquire insurance brokerage USI from private equity firm KKR. Based in Valhalla, New York, USI specializes in risk management, employee benefits, and retirement consulting. According to the USI website, it has earned around $3 billion in annual revenue. 

KKR purchased USI, along with Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt ​et placement ​du Québec, from private equity firm Onex in 2017. Since then, USI has increased its ownership stake, becoming the company’s largest shareholder in 2023. 

The expected deal between the two companies would follow a string of important exits for KKR, including sales of data center cooling firm CoolIT and Circor’s commercial and defense aerospace business earlier this year. KKR has recorded $1.29 billion in asset sales for the quarter that ended in June. 

Aon has a market capitalization of around $75 billion. The company has also reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of $3.81 per share on July 29, topping Wall Street’s analysts’ estimate. Since then, the stock has dropped by 5.6%, closing at $355.40 on Friday. 

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This acquisition deal is important for Aon to expand its reach into mid-size businesses and increase its earnings per share as soon as 2028.