Aon has confirmed it is considering a bid for rival broker Willis Towers Watson, in what could be the industry’s largest merger.
On Tuesday Aon confirmed that the companies have held preliminary talks about an all share merger, but said that these talks were still at the early stage and no deal was guaranteed.
In a statement Aon says: “”(Aon) emphasizes that, at this point, its evaluation of a potential transaction is at a preliminary stage and there can be no certainty that any transaction will take place nor as to the form or terms on which any transaction might be pursued.”
This statement was in response to earlier market speculation about a tie up between the two insurance brokerages. This would be a global merger, but is in unclear what the impact would be on both companies’ UK businesses.
Shares in Willis Towers rose on speculation to this proposed deal. However shares prices in Aon slumped on the news.
Buying Willis Towers might enable Aon to overtake Marsh & McLennan as the world’s largest brokerage by revenue, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
MKM Partners analyst Harry Fong says that this potential tie up “would put together two very large global insurance broking companies that are also engaged in a number of human resources and management consulting practices.”
