Dublin, December 14, 2010 - Aon, the world’s leading provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resource consulting and outsourcing (NYSE:AON), announced today that it has acquired Insure.ie, the online personal lines brokerage. Insure.ie is a well-developed web business with an associated call centre in Dublin and over 100,000 customers in Ireland across motor, home, travel and health insurance.

Speaking at the announcement, Richard Endersen, Managing Director of Aon in Ireland, said that “Aon is delighted to have agreed to this deal with one of the longest established insurance brokers in the country. The personal lines insurance market (motor, home, travel and health insurance) accounts for half of Ireland’s total insurance revenue. With this investment, Aon now has a real presence with the scale, systems and expertise in the personal lines market that will allow Aon to grow significantly.

“The acquisition brings together the best of both companies. A strong management team from Insure.ie; a good commercial portfolio to add to our own; a leading position in the personal insurance area and an opportunity to grow Aon’s business in the Irish marketplace – and of course a vehicle to further enhance our sponsorship of Manchester United with a greater number of Irish fans,” Richard added.

Aon now employs over 600 people on the island of Ireland across its sites in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick and Mullingar. This recent investment in Insure.ie follows on from Aon’s recent opening of its Global Centre of Innovation and Analytics based in Dublin, which supplies advanced research and development technology for Aon worldwide and its recent global merger with Hewitt Associates.

Mike Murphy, commenting on the acquisition, said that “the Murphy family are delighted to join forces with the largest broker in the world.”

Mike and his team will be joining as an integral part of the new management structure and will continue to work with their customers under the Aon umbrella. In addition, Declan Cahill will be joining as the new CEO of Insure.ie. Declan has over 35 years of experience in the Insurance market in Ireland having previously being Director of AA Insurance in Ireland for 30 years. There will be no other changes to the senior management team and no redundancies or job losses.

It is Aon’s intention to continue to grow their insurance business in Ireland across all sectors. Aon is not buying the business to stand still. The acquisition gives Aon’s new customers the economies of scale that a large brokerage like Aon brings to the business, offering real competition in the personal lines market in Ireland.
 

About Aon
Aon Corporation (NYSE: AON) is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resource consulting and outsourcing. Through its more than 59,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to deliver distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon's industry-leading global resources and technical expertise are delivered locally in over 120 countries. Named the world's best broker by Euromoney magazine's 2008, 2009 and 2010 Insurance Survey, Aon also ranked highest on Business Insurance's listing of the world's insurance brokers based on commercial retail, wholesale, reinsurance and personal lines brokerage revenues in 2008 and 2009. A.M. Best deemed Aon the number one insurance broker based on revenues in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and Aon was voted best insurance intermediary 2007-2010, best reinsurance intermediary 2006-2010, best captives manager 2009-2010, and best employee benefits consulting firm 2007-2009 by the readers of Business Insurance. Visit http://www.aon.com for more information on Aon and http://www.aon.com/unitedin2010 to learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.
 

Further media information
Kieran O’Byrne, Hill & Knowlton for Aon
Tel (01) 66 26930 / (086) 254 7949