Baldwin Group CEO Trevor Baldwin expects to capture “meaningful momentum” from the broker’s planned acquisition of CAC Group.
Mr. Baldwin made his comments on a call with analysts Wednesday morning to discuss the transaction, which was announced Tuesday after markets closed.
The combined business is projected to be the 12th-largest brokerage of U.S. business, with total placed premium of more than $14 billion and projected 2026 revenue of $2.01 billion to $2.05 billion, according to Mr. Baldwin and Chief Financial Officer Brad Hale, who also spoke on the call.
Average organic revenue growth is projected to be in the double digits, according to figures prepared by Baldwin.
Baldwin expects cost savings of approximately $60 million, to be realized over a three-year period. Total integration costs are estimated at approximately $50 million over that time, and total transaction-related expenses estimated at about $17 million, with those costs to be incurred during the end of this year and the beginning of 2026.
CAC Executive Chairman Paul Sparks will join the Baldwin board, and there will be “meaningful CAC leadership representation” in the business going forward, according to Mr. Baldwin.
Mr. Baldwin said he expects additional upside with the introduction of cross-selling and upselling across the business as integration proceeds. “We’ve left all of the cross-sell synergy opportunities completely out of this assessment. But if we can’t capture meaningful momentum there, then I would be very, very disappointed,” Mr. Baldwin said.
CAC has “really strong capabilities across a number of industries and product groups, including natural resources, financial lines and transaction liability, all of which continue to perform exceptionally well,” he said.
As an example, “they have very strong capabilities in the tax side, which is something we have not had, and as we plug those capabilities into our team, both in natural resources and in the private-equity and M&A groups, we expect to create meaningful upside opportunities for our colleagues and be able to bring a fuller suite of solutions for our clients,” Mr. Baldwin said.
Under the terms of the deal, Baldwin will acquire CAC with upfront consideration of $1.03 billion, made up of $438 million in cash and 23.2 million shares of Baldwin common stock valued at $589 million, based on the 30-day, volume-weighted average price as of Dec. 1.
The $1.03 billion deal, expected to close in first-quarter 2026, would combine Tampa, Florida-based Baldwin, the 15th-largest brokerage of U.S. business, with $1.39 billion in 2024 U.S. brokerage revenue, with Denver-based CAC, the 35th-largest, with $282.4 million in 2024 U.S. brokerage revenue, both according to the most recent Business Insurance rankings.
Baldwin stock closed at $25.99 a share Wednesday, down about 1.5%.
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.