News & Insights

Acquisition Enhances Western Region Employee Benefits Practice

Walnut Creek, Calif., 05 March 2019 – Relation Insurance Services (“Relation”), a privately owned insurance brokerage that offers property and casualty, risk-management, benefits, and TPA-consulting services through its family of brands across the United States, announced today it has acquired Villane Ward Insurance Services, Inc. (“VillaneWard”), a privately owned and operated employee benefits brokerage based in Fresno, California. Terms for the transaction were not disclosed.

Villane Ward has established itself as a premier employee benefits firm in Fresno. The company specializes in mid market clients, offering group benefits including healthcare, HR and benefit compliance, benefit administration, self-insurance and individual insurance. The acquisition is expected to bring together complementary portfolios in the Fresno area and enhances Relation’s Employee Benefits capabilities in the West.

“We are very excited to welcome VillaneWard to the Relation family,” said Joe Tatum, CEO, Relation Insurance Services. “This partnership will not only greatly strengthen our employee benefits operations in California, it also creates opportunities for them to work closely with the Pan American team to expand existing product portfolios and deliver outstanding brokerage services to the Fresno market. We look forward to leveraging their significant track record of success and continuing to deliver the highest level of service, with the best solutions, for our clients.”

“We are very proud to have built such a succesful full-service employee benefits firm,” said Daniel J. Ward, chairman and chief financial officer, Villane Ward Insurance Services, Inc. “We’re thrilled to be joining Relation, as it’s the perfect complement for our employees and clients. Relation will greatly expand our current capabilities and potential opportunities, while allowing us to continue providing the first class customer service our clients have come to expect and deserve.”

Jenni Villane, president, Villane Ward added, “Like Relation, we’ve built our business on relationships and a continued focus on what we do best. Our clients mean everything to us–it’s about them, not us–and partnering with Relation is expected to bring them further competitive advantages. Relation is large enough to offer us some additional back room support, but not too large that our clients will feel lost in a change to our culture. The team at Relation is focused on the fact that our business is built mainly on relationships, trust and comfort.”

In addition to adding to Relation’s employee benefits practice capabilities on the West Coast, the acquisition builds on Relation’s goal of deepening its specialty services. Most recently, it announced the acquisition of New York based J. Deutsch Associates, a privately owned and operated insurance agency providing student health insurance solutions, as well as business travel accident insurance, group life insurance, basic and voluntary accidental death and dismemberment insurance, statutory disability insurance, short-term disability insurance and long-term disability insurance. The company expects to continue its strong growth trajectory in 2019 through additional acquisitions and organic growth.

About Relation Insurance Services

Relation Insurance Services is an insurance broker that offers superior risk-management and benefits-consulting services through its family of brands across the United States. It is ranked by Insurance Journal within the top 40 largest agencies in the country by revenue and has nearly 500 employees in more than 30 locations nationwide. Relation is a privately held corporation; alongside its current private-equity partners, Parthenon Capital and Century Equity Partners. Recently, the company announced Parthenon and Century had entered into an agreement to transfer ownership of the company to Aquiline Capital Partners, which is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019. Visit www.relationinsurance.com for more information.

# # #

For more information about Mergers & Acquisitions at Relation, please contact:

Tim Hall
[email protected]
(312) 714-7279