b'Mergers & Acquisitions | Property-Casualty Sector | North America and Bermudadecision to revise the outlook of the companysacquisitions in 2020 in the US and Canada, up nearly financial strength rating of A- from stable to20% from 649 reported in 2019. The 290 deals negative), it would continue with its existing planduring the fourth quarter of 2020 marked a 68% rather than pursue an acquisition.increase from 173 deals in the same period for 2019.Consolidation in the MedicalIn addition to the announcement of the merger of Malpractice Arena Aon and Willis (as referred to above), other banner agent-broker deals of 2020 were: (i) the merger of In February 2020, ProAssurance Corporationspecialty insurance brokerages Ryan Specialty announced its acquisition of NORCAL MutualGroup, LLC and All Risks, Ltd. in September 2020; (ii) Insurance Company (NORCAL) for $450 million,the acquisition of Assurance Holdings, Inc. by Marsh with that consideration potentially rising to $600& McLennan in April 2020; and (iii) the acquisition of million based on post-closing performance. TheThe Farmington Company by Aon in April 2020. transaction will demutualize NORCAL and create the third-largest specialist writer of liability business inRunoff and Legacy Marketthe US. At the time of publication, the transactionThe COVID-19 pandemic did not blunt the contin-was expected to close in the second quarter of 2021ued tremendous ongoing growth in the North assuming all prerequisites are met. American runoff and legacy market. As discussed in The transaction comes at a time when there areprior editions of our Year in Review, the surge in the concerns about growth in medical malpractice insur- runoff market is due in part to insurers increased ance due to deteriorating profitability amid restrictionsappreciation of the capital relief triggered by on premium rate increases and claims getting everdisposing of legacy business and the proven track more costly. Also looming on the horizon is a potentialrecord of the leading market participants in respon-2022 California ballot initiative that would have thesibly handling old liabilities.effect of permitting higher monetary awards forCapital continues to flow into the market. For noneconomic damages and higher attorneys fees inexample, in April 2020, it was announced that medical malpractice lawsuits in California.Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings Ltd. received Agent-Broker Transaction Marketa $100 million equity investment from Brickell Insurance Holdings LLC and Hudson Structured Explodes Past Pre-Pandemic Levels Capital Management Ltd.; and then in December The US broker M&A market reignited in the fourth2020 announced an agreement to issue 13-year quarter of 2020 and fully recovered from a COVID- unsecured subordinated Tier 2 notes in the amount 19-induced slump in the second quarter of 2020of $107.75 million. Separately, in June 2020, Enstar and fears over capital gains tax changes broughtannounced that it had increased the capitalization deals forward.of its specialty P&C insurance subsidiary, StarStone US Holdings Inc., by $630 million. As we have reported in prior years, the insurance producer M&A marketplace has experienced unprecedented consolidation in recent years, driven primarily by the expanded role of private equity and other financial institution backed buyers. In particu-lar, according to OPTIS Partners, there were 774 announced insurance agency mergers and 8 GLOBAL INSURANCE INDUSTRY|YEAR IN REVIEW 2020'