While Number of M&A Deals May Decrease, Transaction Insurance Market Remains Resilient, According to Aon

NEW YORK, July 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, and Mergermarket today released the latest in their continuing M&A Risk in Review report series.

This exclusive survey of global insurers and managing general underwriters reveals that 79% predict an increase in representations and warranties (R&W) insurance, 63% anticipate litigation and contingency insurance to rise and 88% feel that tax insurance will grow.

While these figures were derived before the outbreak of COVID-19, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) insurance has become such a staple part of the industry that it is expected that the percentages will remain high even if the actual number of transactions declines.

"There is a strong probability that the market in the second half of 2020 and into 2021 will be characterized by distressed deals and M&A insurance will become an increasingly powerful pillar in facilitating these deals," said Matt Heinz, senior managing director at Aon. "Meanwhile, the surge in tax and litigation and contingency insurance is likely to continue as these are not as inextricably linked to the broader M&A market and are key growth products for global insurers."

The report takes an in-depth look at how industry insiders see the market for transaction products developing over the next year. The coverage includes exclusive data exploring regional, deal size and sectoral variations as well as insights on claims, the hard market and premiums, positions and policies.

Key findings from the report include:

• Survey respondents noted M&A insurance (R&W, tax and contingent/litigation) was placed for 4,229 deals globally in 2019, representing continued annual growth in dealmakers' utilization of insurance as a key strategic tool.
• Outside of North America, which realized the greatest increase in policies underwritten in 2019, 11% of survey respondents saw the most growth in Asia, with the same share selecting Europe as their fastest-growing market. More than a quarter (26%) also picked Europe as the market most likely to grow the fastest in 2020.
• Despite COVID-19's impact on deal flow in the first half of 2020, respondents remain optimistic regarding the value of M&A insurance to managing risk in the face of economic uncertainty, particularly distressed transactions, and look forward to insurance being a key factor as deal volume begins to rebound.
• Most respondents (83%) received claims that impacted their deal selection and underwriting approach. Restriction of deal selection was chosen by 47% as the most important consequence following a received claim.
• Regarding policy issuance, 84% of respondents expect to see the most growth in the lower mid-market (deals valued between US$5 million and US$99 million) and the upper mid-market (deals valued between US$100 million and US$999 million).

The full report is available here.

About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE: AON) is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.

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About Mergermarket
Mergermarket is a business development and market intelligence tool designed specifically for the M&A sector and provides proprietary intelligence and analysis on corporate strategy across the world. With around 200 M&A journalists talking directly to senior executives, dealmakers and other key players in over 60 locations globally, Mergermarket reports on the whole deal life cycle, from mapping out companies' early stage strategic intentions to tracking deals before they develop and providing real-time news on live events, thereby creating a large window of opportunity. Subscribers can also mine for trends, patterns and deal ideas using Mergermarket's comprehensive deals database and regular data-driven editorial analysis and commentary. Visit www.mergermarket.com to learn more.

Media Contacts
For Aon:
Michael Marinello
michael.marinello@aon.com
+1 917 683 8610

For Mergermarket:
Lindsay Spivak
lindsay.spivak@acuris.com
+1 212 390 7853

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SOURCE Aon plc