![\"Gallagher\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/0381_639265409823225604.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n Three deals. Eighteen months. The same two regions each time. For owner-operators in Auckland and Canterbury, the pattern is hard to ignore\n <\/p>\n
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Arthur J. Gallagher<\/a> & Co. has acquired Albany Insurance Services Limited, a retail broker serving commercial and personal lines clients across Auckland and Canterbury.<\/p>\n The deal, announced October 1, is the firm\u2019s third New Zealand acquisition in roughly 18 months. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/p>\n Albany Insurance\u2019s team, led by Jeremy Bleakley, will report to Carl O\u2019Shea, head of Gallagher\u2019s New Zealand retail brokerage operations. Chairman and CEO J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr. said: \u201cAlbany Insurance\u2019s market expertise and client-first culture will enhance our brokerage operations in New Zealand. I am delighted to welcome Jeremy and his associates to Gallagher.\u201d<\/p>\n Read next: Claims mount worldwide as M&A insurance enters a new phase<\/a><\/p>\n Three deals, one direction<\/p>\n Albany is the third New Zealand firm Gallagher has taken on since early 2025.<\/p>\n In March 2025, it acquired RMA General Limited and its associated broking businesses, which provide commercial and personal lines as well as life and health solutions to clients nationally.<\/p>\n In April 2025, it added First Capital Financial Services and its affiliate First Capital Wealth Management \u2013 a Christchurch and Auckland firm covering wealth management, risk management and employee benefits, whose team reports to Graham Campbell, head of Gallagher\u2019s employee benefits and HR consulting operations in Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n Both deals are confirmed on Gallagher\u2019s investor relations website, and in neither case were financial terms disclosed.<\/p>\n The pattern across all three transactions is consistent: existing leadership retained, deal value kept private, and presence added in Auckland, Canterbury, or both.<\/p>\n Why these two regions<\/p>\n The geographic focus reflects where New Zealand\u2019s economy sits. According to Statistics New Zealand\u2019s regional GDP release for the year ended March 2024, Auckland generated $157.3 billion in economic output \u2013 roughly 38% of the national total. Canterbury contributed $51.7 billion, or around 12.5%. Together the two regions account for just over half of New Zealand\u2019s GDP.<\/p>\n More economic activity means more insurable risk. For a broker building scale, those are the two markets that matter.<\/p>\n On and off the deal table<\/p>\n Gallagher\u2019s presence in New Zealand runs wider than acquisitions. In June 2025, New Zealand Rugby announced a multi-year partnership naming Gallagher as official insurance broker for the All Blacks, Black Ferns, M\u0101ori All Blacks and Sevens teams, per a joint announcement on Gallagher\u2019s investor relations site.<\/p>\n Gallagher branding appears on player shorts across all NZR national teams, and from 2026 extends to referee jerseys for DHL Super Rugby Pacific, Sky Super Rugby Aupiki, and Bunnings Warehouse Provincial Rugby.<\/p>\n That kind of reach across every level of the domestic game sits well outside what most independent brokers can match.<\/p>\n Read next: Global M&A acquirers underperform non-dealmakers in Q2 \u2013 WTW<\/a><\/p>\n A growing market, consolidating at the top<\/p>\n New Zealand\u2019s licensed financial advice sector expanded over the past year. The Financial Markets Authority\u2019s (FMA<\/a>) Financial Advice Providers Industry Snapshot, published May 1, 2026, shows licensed FAPs grew 10% year-on-year to 1,553 for the period July 2024 to June 2025. The FMA<\/a> data covers the broader financial advice sector rather than general insurance broking specifically, but the direction it captures is consistent with what is playing out in the broking market: participant numbers climbing while the largest operators consolidate their position at the top.<\/p>\n The size of Albany Insurance\u2019s client book, staff numbers, and premium revenue were not disclosed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three deals. Eighteen months. The same two regions each time. 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