Japan Insurance Agency M&A: Regulatory Reform, Divestitures by Insurers and Corporates, and Foreign Brokers Entering Japan

(Updated October 2026. USD figures are converted at USD/JPY = 150 for reference.)

Japan’s insurance agency sector is shrinking in number and consolidating in scale. The number of non-life insurance agencies fell to about 124,000 at the end of fiscal 2025, down about 39% from about 202,000 ten years earlier. Following an insurance-claim fraud case at a large multi-insurer agency, Japan amended its Insurance Business Act, and the amendments took effect in June 2026. Between 2024 and 2026, life insurers, banks, securities groups and manufacturers sold their agency subsidiaries and in-house agencies one after another. The buyers were large Japanese agencies, listed agency platforms, global insurance brokers and private equity funds. Meanwhile, Tokio Marine Holdings has acquired a specialty agency in the United States and a managing general agent (MGA) in the United Kingdom.

This article is written for corporate development and international business development teams at foreign insurers, brokers, financial services groups and investors that see Japan as an acquisition market, a source of partners, or a source of acquirers for their own businesses. It reviews Japan insurance agency M&A through the market structure, the industry landscape, domestic consolidation, foreign capital in Japanese insurance distribution, Japanese insurance groups’ acquisitions abroad, the industry-specific factors acquirers examine, and the implications for overseas acquirers.

1. Market Structure — Fewer Agencies and Tighter Regulation

Market size

Most non-life insurance in Japan is sold through agencies. According to the General Insurance Association of Japan (GIAJ), direct net premiums written (premiums underwritten directly from policyholders, net of refunds) in fiscal 2025 (domestic and foreign insurers combined) were ¥11.1tn (~USD 74.0bn), of which ¥9.88tn (~USD 65.9bn, 89.0%) was written through agencies, ¥1.09tn (9.9%) directly and ¥124bn (1.1%) through brokers (GIAJ Fact Book 2026).

The number of agencies continues to fall. GIAJ statistics show 124,024 non-life agencies at the end of fiscal 2025 (down 11.5% year on year) and 1,736,427 sales staff (down 2.4%). At the end of fiscal 2015, the figures were 202,148 agencies and 2,059,743 sales staff, implying declines of about 39% and 16% over ten years (GIAJ fiscal 2025 agency statistics). Of the agencies at the end of fiscal 2025, 22,502 (18.1%) were dedicated agencies with insurance as their sole business and 101,522 (81.9%) operated insurance alongside another business; 95,362 (76.9%) were exclusive agencies contracted with a single insurer, and 28,662 (23.1%) were multi-insurer agencies.

In life insurance, insurers’ own sales forces remain the main channel. According to the Life Insurance Association of Japan (LIAJ), at the end of fiscal 2024 there were 241,507 registered sales representatives, 31,339 corporate agencies and 43,959 individual agencies, with 914,233 people employed by agencies. Corporate agencies have declined for nine consecutive years, individual agencies for ten, and agency employees for seven (LIAJ, Life Insurance Fact Book 2025). In the 2024 national survey by the Japan Institute of Life Insurance (JILI), 56.7% of households with two or more members bought their most recent policy through an insurer’s sales representative and 15.7% through an insurance agency’s shop or sales staff. The agency share was 17.8% in the 2018 survey and 15.3% in the 2021 survey (JILI, 2024 National Survey on Life Insurance).

Agency models

Japanese insurance agencies differ widely in how they reach customers, and therefore in their sources of revenue and their key resources. In M&A, an agency’s model shapes both the set of likely acquirers and the way they assess the business.

Model	Examples covered in this article	Business characteristics
Retail shops	Hoken no Madoguchi, Hoken Minaoshi Honpo, Hoken Clinic (IRRC), Hoken Terrace (ETERNAL)	Customers compare products from multiple insurers in a shop. The store network, customer acquisition and store operations drive earnings
Adviser visits	Money Doctor (FP Partner), MFA, Holos Planning	Advisers visit customers. Recruiting, training and retaining advisers determine scale
In-house agencies	Mitsubishi Electric Insurance Service, ENEOS Insurance Service, Mitsubishi Chemical Group’s Dia Rix	Group companies of large corporates that arrange insurance for the parent group and its business partners, closely tied to the parent’s risk management
Local agencies	Exclusive non-life agencies; agencies run alongside car sales or repair	81.9% of non-life agencies are side businesses and 76.9% are exclusive to one insurer (end of fiscal 2025). Relationships with local individual and corporate customers form the base
Online	Hoken Ichiba (Advance Create)	Online comparison and remote consultations, with referrals to partner agencies

The classification is our own. The shares of dedicated and side-business agencies and of exclusive and multi-insurer agencies are from GIAJ statistics.

Five drivers of consolidation

Tighter regulation — In November 2023, after an insurance-claim fraud case, the Kanto Local Finance Bureau revoked the registration of a large multi-insurer non-life agency. In December 2023, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) issued business improvement orders to Japan’s four major non-life insurers over premium coordination (prior adjustment of premium levels among insurers), and in January 2024 to one non-life insurer and its holding company over agency management, among other issues. The resulting amendments to the Insurance Business Act were enacted on May 30, 2025 and took effect on June 1, 2026. They require multi-insurer non-life agencies above a set size to appoint compliance officers, handle complaints, and monitor any side business to prevent undue influence on claim payments; a Cabinet Order extends similar requirements to large multi-insurer life agencies. Ahead of the amendments taking effect, revised supervisory guidelines applying from August 28, 2025 address excessive favors from insurers to agencies (such as purchases of goods or services from agencies or related parties in return for business), inappropriate secondments, and the calculation of agency commissions, which should weigh business quality rather than size and growth alone (FSA explanatory material on the amendment bill; FSA, revision of the supervisory guidelines, August 28, 2025). New rules on comparative product recommendations (recommending a specific product after comparing products from several insurers) by multi-insurer agencies take effect on March 1, 2028 (FSA, August 28, 2026). Enforcement has continued: in August 2025, the Kanto Local Finance Bureau issued a business improvement order to FP Partner, a listed adviser-visit agency, citing among other things the lack of a framework to verify the appropriateness of its product recommendations and the selection of recommended products with emphasis on favors received from insurers.
Fewer and larger agencies — As noted above, the number of non-life agencies fell by about 39% in ten years. FSA council materials show that in fiscal 2022, about 450 large non-life agencies (0.3% of the total), defined by criteria such as contracts with 15 or more insurers, handled 26.5% of direct net premiums in that year, about ¥2.5tn (~USD 16.7bn) (FSA Working Group on Non-Life Insurance Regulation, first meeting, material 3). SBI Shinsei Bank, which sold its multi-insurer agency subsidiary, cited consolidation driven by the decline in the number of agencies and their growing size, and the higher quality standards insurers require of agencies as regulation tightens (Case 6).
Ownership review by insurers, financial groups and corporates — Between 2024 and 2026, life insurers (Asahi Mutual Life, Manulife Life, Dai-ichi Life), banks and securities groups (Yamaguchi Financial Group, SBI Shinsei Bank, Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings) and corporates (Mitsubishi Chemical Group, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Materials, ENEOS, Komatsu) transferred, or agreed to transfer, their agency subsidiaries or in-house agency businesses (Sections 3 and 4; Komatsu’s transfer is scheduled for January 2027). Mitsubishi Electric explained that it had reviewed the position of its insurance services business in light of changes in the agency environment, and Mitsubishi Materials cited selection and concentration of its businesses.
Investment for distribution and customer access — Agencies have accounted for 15% to 18% of life insurance purchases in the surveys since 2018, the second-largest channel after insurers’ sales representatives. Investors have long bought into agencies to secure distribution. Nippon Life made Life Salon and Life Plaza Partners subsidiaries in 2015 and the shop-based multi-insurer agency Hoken no 110 Ban (then 89 shops) a subsidiary in 2017. ITOCHU took a stake in Hoken no Madoguchi Group in 2014 and made it a consolidated subsidiary in 2019. In March 2025, Sumitomo Mitsui Card and Sony Life acquired shares of the multi-insurer agency Nexsol (70% and 20% after the transaction), and in December 2025 Matsui Securities became the largest shareholder of listed Agent IG Holdings (Case 6), citing new points of contact with customers its online services could not fully reach.
Business succession — In a 2019 document, Japan’s Small and Medium Enterprise Agency estimated that by 2025 about 2.45 million owners of small and medium-sized enterprises would be over 70, that about half of them (1.27 million) would have no designated successor, and that if closures increased unchecked, a cumulative 6.5 million jobs and about ¥22tn (~USD 147bn) of GDP could be lost by 2025 (SME Agency, Current State and Issues of M&A among SMEs). In the agency sector, FP Partner stated in July 2024, when announcing a policy transfer, that an increasing number of agencies were closing because of a lack of successors, among other reasons. In December 2024, it agreed to take over 25,462 life and non-life policies, together with employees, from Anshin Plaza, an agency in Akashi, Hyogo, described by FP Partner as having been in business for 25 years.

2. Industry Landscape

Large agencies owned by insurers, corporate groups and funds

Company	Headquarters	Scale	Ownership and recent moves
Hoken no Madoguchi Group	Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo	Operating revenue ¥46.9bn (~USD 313mn), FY2024/6; 707 shops (March 2026)	Consolidated subsidiary of ITOCHU since 2019; Sumitomo Life and Nippon Life are also shareholders. Acquired four agencies in 2025
Tokio Marine & Nichido Partners	Chuo-ku, Tokyo	Non-life premiums handled ¥119bn (~USD 794mn), as of March 2026	Wholly owned by Tokio Marine & Nichido. Merged its eight regional agencies into one company in July 2026
LHL	Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo	—	Wholly owned by Nippon Life. Holding company for Hoken no 110 Ban, Life Plaza Partners and others since April 2019
Hoken Minaoshi Honpo Group	Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo	About 350 shops (September 2025)	Acquired by KKR in September 2025; Japan Post Insurance took a minority stake in March 2026

The Tokio Marine & Nichido Partners merger combined agencies wholly owned by the same insurer, and we do not count it as a consolidation case. It does show that even insurer-owned agencies are consolidating their offices and administrative functions.

Listed agencies

Company	Headquarters	Revenue	Main model and recent moves
FP Partner	Taito-ku, Tokyo	¥32.1bn (~USD 214mn), FY2025/11	Adviser visits (Money Doctor). TSE Prime. Acquired two non-listed agencies in 2024–2025 and continues to take over policy portfolios. Received a business improvement order in August 2025
Agent IG Holdings	Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo	¥13.1bn (~USD 87mn), FY2025/12 (first fiscal period of the holding company)	Nagoya Stock Exchange Main (listed July 2025). Agency M&A and succession are its core business. Matsui Securities holds about 27%
IRRC	Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo	¥11.0bn (~USD 73mn), FY2026/6	Hoken Clinic retail shops and insurance comparison systems. TSE Growth. Took over other companies’ shop businesses in 2025
Advance Create	Chuo-ku, Osaka	¥6.9bn (~USD 46mn), FY2025/9	Hoken Ichiba comparison site and online consultations. TSE Prime. Transferred part of its policy portfolio to an Agent IG Holdings group company in 2026
Broad-Minded	Shibuya-ku, Tokyo	¥5.3bn (~USD 35mn), FY2026/3	Combines insurance agency, mortgage agency and financial instruments intermediary services. TSE Growth. Sold its retail shop business to IRRC in 2025

Among the listed agencies covered in this article, FP Partner, Agent IG Holdings and IRRC have made repeated acquisitions. Advance Create has transferred part of its policy portfolio, and Broad-Minded the retail shop business it acquired in 2024, to other companies.

Agency subsidiaries and in-house agencies of insurer, financial and corporate groups

Insurers, banks, securities groups and corporates in Japan have long held agency subsidiaries or in-house agencies. The former serve as an insurer’s distribution network or as a service for a financial group’s customers; the latter arrange insurance and support risk management for the parent group and its business partners. Between 2024 and 2026, several of these companies were sold, or agreed to be sold, to agencies, brokers or fund-owned agency groups (Cases 1, 2, 3, 6, 8 and 9).

Owner-run agencies and fund-backed agencies

Of Japan’s non-life agencies, 78,853 (63.6%) are incorporated and 45,171 (36.4%) are individuals (end of fiscal 2025). Many non-listed agencies are owned by their founders or local business owners. Prestige (Nagano; founded 1990; contracts with six non-life and 12 life insurers) and Surprise Japan (Ichihara, Chiba; founded 1997; exclusive to Tokio Marine & Nichido in non-life insurance), both acquired by FP Partner, are examples. Non-listed agencies disclose limited information, and identifying them requires research beyond public databases.

Some agencies are backed by funds. Funds managed by Creation Capital invested in J Risk Management (Niigata), a multi-insurer adviser-visit agency, in 2023, and in Zero Navi (Ageo, Saitama), which operates Hoken no Iroha retail shops, in 2024, and placed both under a holding company established in 2023 and renamed LIVIA Holdings in 2025. In its announcements of both investments, Creation Capital stated that a stock market listing would be the best outcome.

Concentration in Kansai

Of the companies covered in this article, Advance Create (Chuo-ku, Osaka), Holos Holdings (Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto), ETERNAL (Chuo-ku, Kobe), which operates Hoken Terrace shops, and Anshin Plaza (Akashi, Hyogo) are headquartered in the Kansai region. Holos Holdings has since come under a global broker, ETERNAL under a fund-owned agency group, and Anshin Plaza’s policies under a listed agency (Sections 3 and 4).

3. Domestic Consolidation — Carve-Outs From Insurers and Corporates, and Agency Platforms

Case 1: Hoken no Madoguchi Group and agency subsidiaries of insurers and banks, among others (2025) — Four acquisitions by a retail-shop major

Hoken no Madoguchi Group, a consolidated subsidiary of ITOCHU operating 682 retail shops (July 2025), announced four agency acquisitions between May and August 2025: all shares of Protec (Fukuoka), which runs insurance shops in Kyushu; 90% of Hoken Hiroba (Shunan, Yamaguchi) from Yamaguchi Financial Group; all shares of F.L.P (Yokohama), which runs shops mainly in the Kanto and Kansai regions, from Asahi Mutual Life; and all shares of Manulife Financial Advisers (Tokyo; adviser-visit model; eight offices nationwide; more than 250 advisers) from Manulife Life. Manulife Financial Advisers changed its parent on September 1, 2025 and was renamed MFA. The prices were not disclosed.

Hoken no Madoguchi Group cited expanding its connections with local customers and reaching a broader range of customers. Manulife Life cited the combination of MFA’s adviser-visit model with Hoken no Madoguchi’s nationwide shop network. Hoken no Madoguchi Group has announced plans to absorb Protec, F.L.P and Hoken Hiroba through mergers (scheduled effective dates of October 2025, December 2025 and July 2026, respectively).

This transaction shows that (i) two life insurers and a regional banking group transferred their agency subsidiaries to a large agency, (ii) a retail-shop major acquired an adviser-visit agency in addition to shop-based regional agencies, broadening its customer channels, and (iii) the acquirer plans to merge the acquired agencies into its own operations.

Case 2: Dai-ichi Life and Asset Guardian (2025) — An insurer’s agency subsidiary divided among buyers

In November 2025, Dai-ichi Life announced that it would split the businesses of its wholly owned agency Asset Guardian (founded 2000; operator of Hoken de Anshin Kan shops) three ways. The shop business would go to listed IRRC and the corporate-client business to Holos Planning, both by business transfer on December 1, 2025, and the remaining businesses, including the adviser-visit agency business, would be absorbed by Alpha Consulting. IRRC disclosed that it took over two shops in the Tokyo area and the related in-force policies on December 1, 2025, and reopened them as directly managed Hoken Clinic shops on December 8. The transfer of the corporate-client business mainly carries over employees.

Dai-ichi Life explained that, in light of the investment strategy in its medium-term management plan, transferring and merging the businesses into partners able to create greater synergies was the best way to sustain and develop Asset Guardian’s businesses.

This transaction shows that (i) an insurer divided its agency subsidiary by business and transferred each part to a different buyer, rather than selling it as a whole, and (ii) each buyer took over different resources, with shops and policies going to a listed retail-shop agency and corporate-client staff to an adviser-visit agency.

Case 3: Mitsubishi Materials and Komatsu (2025–2026) — In-house agency businesses transferred to Japanese agencies

In November 2025, Mitsubishi Materials announced that its group company Ryoko Service would transfer its insurance agency business to MST Insurance Service (Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo), with the transfer scheduled for March 31, 2026, describing MST as one of the largest in the industry and citing selection and concentration of its businesses. In October 2026, Komatsu announced that in June it had agreed to transfer the insurance agency business of its wholly owned subsidiary Komatsu Corporate Service to Toyotsu Insurance Partners (Nagoya), a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho, with completion scheduled for January 1, 2027. Komatsu concluded that the business would be better able to provide stable, high-quality insurance services on Toyotsu Insurance Partners’ business base.

This transaction shows that (i) insurance agency businesses run by manufacturers’ group companies are moving to companies with insurance distribution as their core business, and (ii) the transfers took the form of business transfers, with the seller’s group company remaining in place and only the agency business moving.

Case 4: FP Partner and non-listed agencies (2024–2025) — Share acquisitions and policy transfers by a listed adviser-visit agency

FP Partner, a multi-insurer adviser-visit agency, acquired all shares of Surprise Japan (Ichihara, Chiba; founded 1997; a non-life and life agency) in January 2024 and of Prestige (Nagano; founded 1990) in September 2025. In both cases it cited the expansion of its non-life business and stronger life insurance sales, and did not disclose the price. Surprise Japan was merged into FP Partner in August 2025. FP Partner has also taken over policy portfolios: in July 2024 it announced the transfer of 27,599 policies from Lifetime Consulting, a wholly owned ORIX Life subsidiary that was being liquidated, and in December 2024 an agreement to take over 25,462 life and non-life policies, together with employees, from Anshin Plaza (Akashi, Hyogo).

This transaction shows that (i) a listed agency is growing through both share acquisitions of non-listed agencies and transfers of policies and employees, (ii) agency exits include not only sales of companies but also transfers of in-force policies, and (iii) the acquirer aims to combine its adviser-visit life insurance sales with the non-life customer bases of the agencies it acquires.

Case 5: IRRC and Broad-Minded’s retail shops (2025) — A shop business transferred between listed agencies

On July 1, 2025, IRRC acquired Broad-Minded’s 11 Money Pro Shop retail shops and the related in-force policies for ¥327.84mn (~USD 2.2mn). The business had revenue of ¥335.93mn (~USD 2.2mn) and an operating loss of ¥116.37mn (~USD 0.8mn) in the fiscal year ended March 2025. The 11 shops came from the 12 Seven Insurance Shop stores that Broad-Minded had acquired from Seven Financial Service, part of the Seven & i group, for ¥482mn (~USD 3.2mn) in February 2024. IRRC stated that the seller had faced challenges in operating retail shops and that new customer visits had stagnated, and that it would convert the shops to directly managed Hoken Clinic stores to improve profitability.

This transaction shows that (i) retail shops that moved from a retail group to a listed agency moved again to another listed agency about 18 months later, (ii) the price was roughly equal to the business’s revenue, and a loss-making business still commanded a price for its shop network and policies, and (iii) the acquirer based the deal on applying its own store operations and brand to improve earnings.

Case 6: Agent Insurance Group and Financial Japan (2024), and further moves — A listed agency built around consolidation

On April 1, 2024, Agent Insurance Group acquired all shares of the multi-insurer agency Financial Japan from SBI Shinsei Bank, which cited consolidation driven by fewer and larger agencies and the higher quality standards insurers require as regulation tightens. The group’s holding company, Agent IG Holdings, has agency M&A and succession as its core business and listed on the Nagoya Stock Exchange Main Market in July 2025. In December 2025, Matsui Securities became its largest shareholder with about 27%, through a third-party allotment of new shares (about ¥696mn, ~USD 4.6mn) and purchases of shares from Tokio Marine & Nichido and Tokio Marine & Nichido Life; Tokio Marine & Nichido sold its entire stake. Matsui Securities cited creating new points of contact with customers its online services could not fully reach. In September 2026, Agent Insurance Group took over part of Advance Create’s non-life and life policy portfolio.

This transaction shows that (i) a banking group sold its agency subsidiary to a company whose business is agency consolidation, (ii) an insurer sold its stake and a securities firm became the largest shareholder, changing the source of capital behind the agency, and (iii) the acquirer combines share acquisitions with policy transfers to build scale.

4. Foreign Capital in Japanese Insurance Distribution — Out-In Transactions

For overseas brokers, insurers and investors, the transactions below are working examples of entry into Japanese insurance distribution. Between 2024 and 2026, global brokers entered Japan’s retail agency market through a majority stake in a multi-insurer agency, took over in-house agencies of major Japanese corporates, and a US private equity firm acquired a retail-shop major from another fund.

Case 7: Howden and Holos Holdings (2025) — A global broker takes a majority stake in a multi-insurer agency

On July 1, 2025, Howden, the UK-based insurance broker, acquired about 68.3% of Holos Holdings, headquartered in Kyoto. Its core subsidiary, Holos Planning, is a multi-insurer agency founded in 2001, with 20 offices nationwide and more than 400 advisers, and is a certified agency under LIAJ’s agency quality program. Howden had built its Japanese presence in steps: a capital and business alliance with Keystone ILS in February 2024, the establishment of reinsurance broker Howden Re Japan in July 2024, and the acquisition of captive manager Foresight in 2024. Howden stated that the Holos acquisition would give it the platform to provide comprehensive services nationwide to individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, large corporates and insurers. Howden’s chief executive said that the company had always believed that deep local expertise is essential in the Japanese market. In November 2025, Dai-ichi Life announced Holos Planning as the transferee of the corporate-client business of its agency subsidiary (Case 2).

This transaction shows that (i) a global broker entered Japan’s retail agency business by acquiring a majority of a Japanese multi-insurer agency, (ii) the acquirer positioned the target’s nationwide offices and advisers as the base for nationwide services to customers ranging from individuals to large corporates, (iii) a founder-established agency in Kansai became the core of a foreign acquirer’s Japanese retail business, and (iv) within months, the acquired agency was named as a buyer in another divestiture.

Case 8: Marsh and Aon and in-house agencies of Japanese corporates (2025–2026) — Global brokers take over in-house agencies

Marsh Japan, the Japanese arm of US-based Marsh, acquired Mitsubishi Electric Insurance Service in November 2025, made it a wholly owned subsidiary and renamed it MEIS Insurance Service. On September 30, 2026, it completed the acquisition of shares of ENEOS Insurance Service and of the insurance agency business of ENEOS Material Trading, and renamed the company EMIS Insurance Service. On March 1, 2025, Aon completed its acquisition of the agency business of Dia Rix, an in-house service company of Mitsubishi Chemical Group operating since 1959, adding 100 people to Aon in Japan and bringing its headcount there to more than 400. In January 2026, Aon reorganized its Japanese group: one entity obtained a broker license and set up a broking unit, while Aon Japan strengthened its agency functions and opened an office in Nagoya. Mitsubishi Chemical Group and Mitsubishi Electric both cited changes in the agency environment as their reason for selling. ENEOS explained that the business’s strengths and growth potential would be better realized under the most suitable partner. The prices were not disclosed.

This transaction shows that (i) global brokers have become buyers of the in-house agencies of major Japanese corporates, (ii) the companies acquired by Marsh keep names that reflect their former parent groups while operating as part of Marsh’s Japanese business, and (iii) a global broker restructured its Japanese entities after an acquisition to operate both broking and agency functions.

Case 9: KKR and Hoken Minaoshi Honpo Group (2025–2026) — A fund-to-fund sale followed by add-on acquisitions

On September 16, 2025, KKR completed its acquisition of Hoken Minaoshi Honpo Group, which operates about 350 Hoken Minaoshi Honpo retail shops, from funds advised by Advantage Partners. The group offers products from more than 40 insurers through shops, call centers and the web. KKR cited the opportunity for the group to strengthen its platform and serve customers’ diverse needs. On March 31, 2026, Hoken Minaoshi Honpo Group acquired all shares of ETERNAL (Kobe), which operates more than 40 Hoken Terrace shops, from Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings, and Japan Post Insurance made a minority investment in the group on the same day, with KKR remaining the majority shareholder. Japan Post Insurance stated that the purpose of its investment was not to sell its own products through the group, and that the investment would help the group accelerate both organic and inorganic growth.

This transaction shows that (i) a large retail-shop agency changed hands from one fund to another, (ii) under fund ownership the group is growing by acquiring a securities group’s agency subsidiary, and (iii) a Japanese insurer invested in a multi-insurer agency through a minority stake that is explicitly not aimed at selling its own products.

Lessons from these entries

The three cases above share features relevant to overseas acquirers. Each foreign acquirer bought an established Japanese business with its own advisers, offices or customer base, rather than building one from scratch. Where a company was acquired, it continued to operate as a Japanese entity under a name or brand linked to its history. And in Cases 7 and 9, the acquired platform was used for further acquisitions: Hoken Minaoshi Honpo Group acquired ETERNAL, and Holos Planning was named as the buyer of a corporate-client business.

5. Japanese Insurance Groups Abroad — In-Out Transactions

For overseas companies, Japanese insurance groups are potential acquirers of their businesses and potential partners. Their recent transactions show what they buy, on what criteria and at what price levels. In our research, we did not find any publicly announced acquisition of an overseas agency by a Japanese insurance agency. Among Japanese buyers, we confirmed acquisitions of overseas agencies and MGAs by Tokio Marine Holdings. In the cases below, the buyer chose agencies focused on a specific customer segment or line, and cited their customer base and marketing, or underwriting business with no overlap with its existing portfolio.

Case 10: Tokio Marine Holdings and Ignyte’s collector-vehicle agency business (completed October 2025) — A US specialty agency

On October 31, 2025, Tokio Marine Holdings, through its US subsidiary Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY), acquired the US collector-vehicle insurance agency business of Ignyte Insurance for USD 615mn. The business, which specializes in personal auto insurance for vehicles at least 25 years old and operates brands including American Collectors, J.C. Taylor, Condon Skelly and Heacock Classic, had gross written premiums of about USD 164mn in FY2024 and about 250 employees. The price was about 3.8 times gross written premiums (our calculation from disclosed figures). The seller, Ignyte Insurance, is backed by Carlyle. Tokio Marine cited the business’s outstanding marketing capabilities and profitable, high-quality customer base, the sustained growth potential of the collector-vehicle segment as baby boomers age, and synergies with PHLY’s existing business. It described the deal as one of its bolt-on acquisitions focused on specialty primary insurance in developed markets.

This transaction shows that (i) a Japanese insurance group acquired an agency focused on a specific customer segment, rather than an insurer, (ii) a strategic buyer provided the exit for a fund-backed business, and (iii) the acquirer based the deal on combining the target’s customer base and marketing with its own underwriting.

Case 11: Tokio Marine Holdings and Direct Commercial Limited (completed September 2026) — A UK MGA

In August 2026, Tokio Marine Holdings announced that its US subsidiary HCC Insurance Holdings (TMHCC) would acquire Direct Commercial Limited, a UK MGA, for GBP 265mn (about ¥57.3bn per Tokio Marine’s disclosure, ~USD 382mn), and announced completion in September 2026. The company specializes in commercial motor insurance, particularly for short- and medium-haul goods vehicles, with gross written premiums of about GBP 200mn and about 200 employees. The price was about 1.3 times gross written premiums (our calculation from disclosed figures; the multiple in Case 5 is based on revenue and those in Cases 10 and 11 on premiums, so they are not comparable). Tokio Marine stated that the acquisition would add underwriting business that does not overlap with TMHCC’s existing portfolio and support further profit growth and business diversification.

This transaction shows that (i) following Case 10, a Japanese insurance group again acquired an overseas specialty distributor, and (ii) the acquirer’s stated criteria were no overlap with its existing business and a contribution to profit growth.

Case 12: Tokio Marine Holdings, Sumitomo Corporation and bolttech (2022 onward) — Investment in an embedded insurance platform

In October 2022, Tokio Marine Holdings formed a capital and business alliance with bolttech, a Singapore-based insurtech founded in 2020 that operates in about 30 countries and partners with more than 800 companies, including telecom operators and e-commerce businesses, to embed insurance in their products and services. The stated aims were to expand embedded insurance globally and to offer fully digital insurance enrollment. In June 2025, Sumitomo Corporation joined bolttech’s Series C round, which raised USD 147mn at a valuation of USD 2.1bn.

This transaction shows that (i) a Japanese insurance group and a trading house have taken minority positions in an overseas insurance distribution platform, and (ii) the platform distributes insurance through other businesses’ customer channels rather than through shops or advisers.

Japanese insurance groups also acquire insurers abroad. SOMPO Holdings completed its acquisition of Bermuda-based Aspen for about USD 3.48bn in February 2026, and Nippon Life acquired the remaining stake of about 77% in Resolution Life for about USD 8.4bn in October 2025. Compared with these insurer acquisitions, the agency acquisitions in Cases 10 and 11 were smaller; the stated reasons were the customer base and marketing in Case 10, and non-overlapping underwriting business in Case 11.

6. Industry-Specific Factors Examined by Acquirers

In Japan insurance agency M&A, acquirers examine industry-specific factors in addition to financials. Based on the reasons disclosed by acquirers, sellers and investors in the cases above and on the regulatory requirements, these factors fall into three groups.

Policies and customer base — The number and types of in-force policies, the mix of non-life and life insurance, customer segments and regions, and policy retention. The acquirer in Case 4 has taken over portfolios of more than 20,000 policies each, separately from its share acquisitions. The acquirer in Case 10 cited a profitable, high-quality customer base, and in Case 5 in-force policies were transferred together with the shops.
Distribution and people — The number and location of offices and shops, the number and retention of advisers, and the sales model (retail shop, adviser visit, in-house). The seller in Case 1 cited the combination of an adviser-visit agency with the acquirer’s shop network; the corporate-client business transfer in Case 2 mainly carried over employees; and the acquirer in Case 7 cited local expertise together with nationwide offices and advisers. In Case 5, the acquirer’s plan to improve earnings rested on switching the shops to its own operating model and brand.
Governance and insurer relationships — Compliance officers, internal audit, procedures for product recommendations, complaint handling, customer data management, and the terms and mix of agency agreements with insurers. The amended Insurance Business Act and its ordinances require multi-insurer agencies above a set size to appoint compliance officers, handle complaints, monitor side businesses and maintain internal audit, and new rules on comparative recommendations take effect in March 2028 (Section 1). The seller in Case 6 cited insurers’ higher quality standards as regulation tightens.

7. Implications for Overseas Acquirers

Target universe

In Japan insurance agency M&A between 2024 and 2026, agency subsidiaries and in-house agencies were sold, or agreed to be sold, by life insurers, banks, securities groups and manufacturers (Cases 1 to 3, 6, 8 and 9), and non-listed agencies were acquired by listed agencies (Case 4). Global brokers acquired a founder-established multi-insurer agency and in-house agencies (Cases 7 and 8), and a fund acquired a retail-shop major (Case 9). The targets in these cases were either group companies of large Japanese corporates and financial groups or non-listed agencies. Non-listed agencies disclose limited information, and identifying them requires research beyond public databases; approaching them requires direct contact with parent companies or owners, in Japanese.

Transaction structures

The cases show several structures: majority stakes with the founder-established company continuing under its own name (Case 7, about 68.3%); full acquisitions of companies (Cases 1, 4 and 8); business transfers that leave the seller’s group company in place (Cases 3 and 8); divisions of a subsidiary among several buyers (Case 2); transfers of in-force policies and employees (Case 4; policies only in Case 6); and minority investments by insurers and financial groups (Cases 6 and 9). The appropriate structure depends on the intentions of the parent company or owner, the agency agreements with insurers, and the acquirer’s integration plan.

What sellers emphasize

Parent-company sellers explained their decisions in terms of the business’s future: Dai-ichi Life described transfers to partners able to create greater synergies as the best way to sustain and develop the business, Komatsu cited stable, high-quality insurance services on the buyer’s business base, and ENEOS spoke of realizing the business’s strengths under the most suitable partner. Manulife Life emphasized the fit between the agency’s adviser model and the buyer’s shop network. These statements suggest that the sellers in these cases expected acquirers to present a plan for serving customers and developing the business alongside the price.

8. Syntax Partners

Syntax Partners is a Japan-based M&A advisory firm that acts solely as financial advisor. In any transaction, we advise one side only, either the buyer or the seller. We advise on Japan insurance agency M&A and transactions in other financial services, in both domestic and cross-border settings.

Buy-side advisory

For foreign companies considering acquisitions or capital alliances in Japan, we support the full process: mapping targets based on their strategy, including non-listed owner-run companies and businesses within Japanese corporate groups; approaching owners and parent companies directly; negotiation; and execution. We work in Japanese and English, among other languages.

Sell-side advisory

As an advisor that maximizes the interests of sellers and owners, we support Japanese owners and parent companies considering a sale or business succession. The buyer universe we cover includes not only large Japanese and listed agencies but also funds, financial institutions investing in agencies, and overseas strategic buyers such as global insurance brokers. Our transaction support draws on our understanding of the industry, including policy portfolios, advisers and offices, agency agreements with insurers, and governance frameworks under the amended Insurance Business Act.

Selected engagements are listed in our Track Record.

We welcome discussions at any stage, from early-stage exploration of acquisitions or partnerships in Japan to live transactions.

Confidential Inquiry

Return to Home

This article was prepared by Syntax Partners, Inc. based on public information, including companies’ official announcements, IR materials, and materials published by government agencies and industry associations.