Lockton Ireland, the Irish arm of global insurance brokerage Lockton, has announced its third acquisition of the yer after entering into an agreement to purchased Dublin-based advisors Burke Pensions & Financial Services.
Lockton previously bought TotalHealthCover.ie from Dermot Goode and corporate pension brokerage Independent Financial Advisory Trust as part of its strategy for acquisitions-based growth.
Lockton Ireland said it is on track to triple its headcount to 60 by January, with further announcements to be made in the coming months, reflects its determination to substantially grow its consulting and broking capabilities in Ireland.
The group, which employs 8,000 people globally, has forecast that with its 2022 acquisitions revenue at Lockton Ireland will reach c.€7m by April 2023.
Burke Pensions & Financial Services Ltd was founded in 2002 by Dermot Burke (70) and was owned by William John Burke (35). Fee income at the Sandyford adviser in the year to October 2021 was €470,000, up from €380,000 the year before.
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"This is our third acquisition since the start of 2022 as we continue to build the Lockton capability in Ireland. Dermot and his son Billy have created a business that culturally is very well aligned with Lockton," said Ray McKenna, partner at Lockton Ireland.
"We are excited about continuing to build on the wonderful client relationships they have created and continuing to help those clients solve the key pension and employee benefit challenges of today’s workforce marketplace.
"At the end of the acquisition period later this year, Lockton will be the fifth largest corporate pension broker behind Mercer, Willis Towers Watson, AON and the conglomerate of brokers owned by Invesco which owned by Irish Life."
Lockton's expansion comes as pensions providers come to grips with the EU's IORP II legislation, which will require some 65,000 employers in Ireland to decide if they want to work under the more onerous regulations or move their employee pension scheme to one of the nine Master Trusts available.
McKenna said Lockton's focus in the short term would be on advising clients on the imminent pension deadline created by IORP II and "helping companies to attract and retain staff through leveraging creative and differentiated benefit programme."
According to Renatus, Jim Mulqueen of Montanum Advisory assisted Lockton with deal advisory, and Fitzgerald Power assisted with financial due diligence. Legals were handled by Ken Casey and Paddy Scott in Hayes Solicitors.
The vendor was advised by Dave Kealy of Grant Thornton, with Feilim O’Caoimh and Conor Folan in Fieldfisher providing legal counsel.
(Pic: Getty Images)
