On Friday 9 July, the European Commission approved the acquisition of Willis Towers Watson (WTW) by Aon.
The approval is conditional on full compliance with a substantial set of commitments offered by Aon, including the divestment of central parts of WTW’s business to the international brokerage company Arthur J. Gallagher (Gallagher).
For Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President in charge of competition policy, the remedy package “ensures that European companies, including insurance companies and large multinational customers, will continue to have a good choice and good services when selecting a broker suitable for their needs”.
Both companies are global leading players in the markets for commercial risk brokerage services, reinsurance brokerage and the provision of retirement, health and welfare and investment services to commercial customers.
In order to address the Commission’s competition concerns, Aon proposed to divest to Gallagher: - WTW’s entire commercial risk brokerage country organisations in France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands; - WTW’s Cyber risk brokerage business in the UK; - a substantial set of additional customer contracts and personnel in a number of EEA countries and internationally. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)