Five Pa. insurance & benefits firms join national consortium Alera Group

Five Pennsylvania insurance and employee benefits firms have joined forces with a new, larger national consortium calling itself Alera Group, according to a news release.

American Insurance Administrators of Mechanicsburg; Coury Health Services in Pittsburgh; HMK Insurance in Bethlehem; INGROUP Associates in  Lancaster, and Pentra in Villanova have merged with 19 other smaller firms around the country to form Alera Group, as of year-end 2016.

Based in Deerfield, Ill., Alera Group has a combined 750 employees, more than 20,000 clients nationally in employee benefits, property and casualty, risk management and wealth management, and $158 million in annual revenues.

Alera Group now ranks as the 14th largest independent insurance agency and the 7th largest independent employee benefits firm in the country, according to Insurance Journal.  Genstar Capital, a private equity firm, invested an undisclosed amount in the deal.