BB&T Insurance Acquires Southwest Florida Brokerage

BB&T Insurance Services has expanded its reach within the Florida market through the acquisition of Oswald Trippe and Co. Inc., a Fort Myers-based insurance brokerage with seven additional offices in the Sunshine State.

Terms of BB&T's acquisition, which closed Nov. 2, were not disclosed. In addition to the Fort Myers location, the acquisition gives BB&T Insurance Services a market presence in Cape Coral, Miami, Naples, Sarasota, Holmes Beach, Weston and Ocala.

"The placement of their agencies will benefit our expansion into the state of Florida," H. Wade Reece, BB&T Insurance Services' chairman and chief executive, told BestWire. "This will enable us to be in some very good markets. They do a lot of coastal property and a lot of condominium associations, which is something we like to do."

Reece said that four separate Oswald Trippe offices in North Carolina were not part of the transaction. He is optimistic about his company's overall market presence and the cross-selling opportunities.

"We think the housing market will improve," Reece said, referring to conditions in southwest Florida. "It may take a little while. We think maybe within the next year or two."

Raleigh, N.C.-based BB&T Insurance Services is the world's seventh-largest global broker, based on 2008 brokerage revenue from the placement of primary insurance, with $730.2 million in revenue, according to Best's Review's ranking of global brokers. The company's primary lines of business are commercial property/casualty, employee benefits and personal lines.

A statement from BB&T Insurance Services described Oswald Trippe as one of the largest privately owned insurance agencies in southwest Florida. Oswald Trippe was founded in 1982 by three individuals: agency chairman and CEO Gary Trippe; his wife, Gay Trippe; and James Pender, honorary chairman of The Oswald Cos., of Cleveland, Ohio.

Oswald Trippe started with a single anchor client, one employee in a home office and revenue of $208,000 in its first year, according to the agency's Web site. Fifteen years later, the agency had 61 employees and had grown annual revenue to almost $6 million. The company has approximately 130 employees in Florida. Gary Trippe will remain with BB&T-Oswald Trippe as a consultant on management, client and community relations issues. The agency's president, John Pollock, will serve as agency manager and report to Rick Iler, BB&T Insurance Services' regional manager. Pollock said about 33% of the company had been held through an employee stock ownership plan, which helped spur along the company's growth.

BB&T Insurance Services operates more than 100 agencies in 11 states, including Florida agencies in Orlando, St. Petersburg, Bradenton and Tallahassee. It is the second-largest bank-owned insurance agency in the United States.

In August, the company's corporate parent, BB&T Corp., acquired Colonial Bank and became the eighth-largest financial holding company by deposits. The bank acquisition gave BB&T a community bank region that covers a five-county region: Manatee, Sarasota, Lee, Charlotte and Collier. The Colonial acquisition involved $23 billion in assets and $19 billion in deposits. BBT Corp. has $152.4 billion in assets.

In mid-afternoon trading on Nov. 3, shares of BB&T (NYSE: BBT) were selling at $24.77, down 0.30% from their previous close.