Towers Watson to buy EMB

Consulting firm and (re)insurance brokerage Towers Watson has agreed to buy the worldwide operations of non-life insurance consultancy and software company EMB.

The companies expect to conclude the transaction in the next 60-90 days, subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

“The EMB acquisition furthers Towers Watson’s strategy to serve clients with increasingly sophisticated risk analytics and consulting solutions,” said Patricia Guinn, global leader of Towers Watson’s risk and financial services segment, in a statement.

Rory O’Brien, EMB’s managing partner, added: “EMB has had tremendous success over the past 17 years but, to remain at the cutting edge and maintain our evolution, we have decided the time is right to seek a bigger partner.”

EMB was founded in 1993 in the UK as an actuarial consultancy dedicated to non-life insurance and the development of high-performance actuarial software. It has since expanded to other areas, including business consultancy, marketing sciences and enterprise risk management. EMB has more than 300 employees and, in its fiscal year ending April 2010, had revenues in excess of £40m.