DAYTONA BEACH and TAMPA, Fla., Jan 13, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- J. Hyatt Brown, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE: BRO), and Daniel S. Real, Managing Member of ECC Insurance Brokers, LLC, of Oak Brook, Illinois today announced the asset acquisition of ECC Insurance Brokers, LLC by Brown & Brown, Inc.
ECC Insurance Brokers, with combined annualized revenues of approximately $3.9 million, is a wholesale insurance broker providing a select group of Independent Midwestern insurance agents with products for its specialty and unique hard-to-place risks. Dan Real will continue to run this new stand-alone wholesale operation, which will continue to operate under the name ECC Insurance Brokers from its current location.
Mr. Real said of the transaction, "We feel that joining with Brown & Brown offers an excellent opportunity to expand our range of products and services which will allow us to better serve our agent clients. There is considerable synergy between our two companies which can only aid us in achieving the goals of our clients."
Mr. Brown said, "We are very pleased that Dan and the ECC team have elected to join Brown & Brown. They represent our initial move into the brokerage side of the industry in America's Heartland. We are excited at the energy and expanded opportunities they bring to our organization." Information regarding ECC Insurance Brokers can be found on the web at http://www.eccins.com.
Brown & Brown, Inc. and its subsidiaries offer a broad range of insurance and reinsurance products and services, as well as risk management, employee benefit administration, and managed health care programs. Providing service to business, public entity, individual and trade and association clients nationwide, the Company is ranked by Business Insurance magazine as the United States' eighth largest independent insurance intermediary. Our Web address is http://www.bbinsurance.com.
This press release may contain certain statements relating to future results which are forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts, but instead represent only the Company's belief regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company's control. It is possible that the Company's actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's financial results, are contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Some factors include: general economic conditions around the country; downward commercial property and casualty premium pressures; the competitive environment; the integration of the Company's operations with those of businesses or assets the Company has acquired or may acquire in the future and the failure to realize the expected benefits of such integration; the potential occurrence of a disaster that affects certain areas of the States of Arizona, California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and/or Washington, where significant portions of the Company's business are concentrated; the actual costs of resolution of contingent liabilities; and those factors relevant to Brown & Brown's consummation and integration of the announced acquisition, including any matters analyzed in the due diligence process, material adverse changes in the customers of the company whose operations are being acquired, material adverse changes in the business and financial condition of either or both companies and their respective customers, and substantial delay in the expected closing of the transaction. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or correct any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which we hereafter become aware.
SOURCE Brown & Brown, Inc.
Cory T. Walker, Chief Financial Officer of Brown & Brown, Inc., +1-386-239-7250
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