Hyderabad: Edelweiss Group, India’s leading diversified financial services conglomerate, today announced that US-based Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (Gallagher) – one of the world’s largest insurance brokerage and risk management services firms – has acquired a minority stake by way of primary equity infusion in Edelweiss Insurance Brokers Limited (EIBL), post approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). The latter is a subsidiary of Edelweiss Financial Services Limited.

EIBL had announced its partnership with Gallagher in May 2019, which brings together Gallagher’s expertise in global markets and the operational excellence and distribution network of Edelweiss in India. Through this partnership, Gallagher will be able to directly extend its global best practices, along with its full array of advisory services, to leading corporates in India. The merged entity will continue to operate under the leadership of Mr. Vinay Sohani as its CEO.

Speaking on the development Rashesh Shah, Chairman and CEO, Edelweiss Group said,“Edelweiss and Gallagher are both deeply committed to high standards of corporate governance, the most valuable quality in financial services.  We are very happy that we will now work closely together to provide our clients best in class advisory, global expertise and a large suite of insurance products and services. This will help both partners to deepen the market for insurance products in India, where the potential for growth is enormous.’’

Commenting on the partnership, J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO of Gallagher, said, “We are very pleased to partner with an established financial services group such as Edelweiss to  expand our commercial insurance footprint in India. This is in sync with Gallagher’s growth strategy of investing in businesses that broaden our specialist capabilities and diversify our geographic presence.”

In recent months, the Edelweiss Group has cemented several partnerships with marquee global institutions including Kora Management, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (one of North America’s largest pension funds), Allianz Investment Management (part of Allianz Group, one of the world’s largest insurers) and Bank of Singapore across market leading platforms in its advisory business, NBFC ECL Finance, Private Debt and Wealth Management business respectively.