DOJ block  $30bn Aon and Willis Tower Watson merger

Aon and Wills Towers Watson have departed from a $30bmn tie-up that would have created the world’s biggest insurance broker after the US government sued to block the deal.

Greg Case, Aon’s CEO said: “the companies have reached an impasse with the US Department of Justice, which had overlooked the fact that our complementary businesses operate across broad, competitive areas of the economy.”

Aon must $1bn break fee to Wills, which said it would increase its share repurchase programme by the same amount.

The all-share deal was stuck in March last year as the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe. Both listed in New York and build up over years of acquisitions, Aon and Willis have 95, 000 employees between them across more than 100 countries.

 

According to the lawsuit filed last month by DOJ offered a scathing critique about the deal which would create a Big Two in insurance  broking and would eliminate substantial head-to-head competition and likely to lead to higher prices and less innovation, harming American businesses and their customers, employees and retirees”

Merrick Garland, the US attorney General, said “the breakdown of the deal was a victory for competition and for American businesses and ultimately for their customers, employees and retirees across the country”.

 John Haley, Willis’s CEO said his company was well positioned to compete vigorously across our businesses around the world.

Authorities in the EU, the companies’ other main market had already given the deal their blessing this month.