Ritter Insurance Marketing, a Harrisburg-area firm that provides products and services to independent insurance agencies, has been sold.
- Dallas-based Integrity Marketing Group said May 18 it has agreed to buy Ritter, which employs about 280 people in Susquehanna Township and at satellite offices around the U.S.
- Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But Craig Ritter, an owner and CEO of Ritter, will become a managing partner of Integrity, which employs nearly 6,000 people.
What’s the match: Both companies operate as intermediaries between insurers and the customer-facing firms that sell insurance and other financial products. But their businesses — which incorporate technology services designed to help their clients — are complementary.
- Integrity distributes life and health insurance, while Ritter specializes in Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage plans for seniors.
- “By combining our capabilities, we’re unlocking even greater potential to better serve the life, health and wealth needs of more Americans,” Integrity co-founder and CEO Bryan Adams said in a statement.
What’s next: The deal is expected to close soon, according to Rachel Aird, a spokesperson for Integrity.
- Ritter will continue operating under its own name but with the tagline “An Integrity Company,” Aird said.
- Integrity, which operates an employee ownership plan, also has offered jobs to all Ritter employees, she added. “There will be zero layoffs.”
What’s the pace: Brisk. The acquisition of Ritter is Integrity’s 33rd of the year, Aird said.
- The company is fueled, in part, by an infusion of $1.2 billion in capital last year from a group of investors led by private equity firm Silver Lake. The investors hold a minority stake in Integrity.
- Silver Lake also has invested in Airbnb, Chinese fintech platform Ant Group and self-driving vehicle company Waymo.
- Ritter had been backed by investment firm Century Equity Partners, which took a minority stake in May 2020.
- Ritter also has been fairly acquisitive and purchased several smaller firms over the last two years.
- Ritter traces its roots to a company founded in 1994 by Cal Ritter, Craig Ritter’s father.
