“So, the closing of this acquisition was the next logical step in the development of our relationship,” he said.
Rooley said when the deal was getting underway, the only real challenges to it going ahead were outside the deal itself.
Read more: Willis Towers Watson makes Australian acquisition
One of those issues was the proposed Aon and WTW mega-merger that was cancelled in July after the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) brought an anti-trust lawsuit against the merger.
“It never diluted our desire to close the deal and we anticipated that we would still close it if we had become Aon, but it became a regulatory issue because obviously the regulatory authorities needed to pass the acquisition and the merger of Aon and Willis in the first place before adding yet another business to it,” said Rooley.
The other challenge was the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty about how badly it would impact the aviation industry.
“Cleary a lot of the airlines were particularly affected but Greg [Rector, managing director of Aerosure] and his business was remarkably resilient,” he noted. He maintained his client book and he actually managed to grow during that period and so we were delighted with that.”
WTW’s presence in the aviation business space, said Rooley, is built around four lines of business. The first line is providing insurance services to major airlines.
“We’re fortunate to have very large dominant market share, as much as 45% of that marketplace, and we look after airlines ranging from American, United, Emirates, Qatar Airways, all the big ones basically,” he said. “That’s the largest segment of our business.”
Their second line of business is general aviation. Rooley defined that as anything that flies with less than 50 seats, including smaller helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. This is where the Aerosure purchase comes in.
“We have a strong appetite to…