Monday, July 12, 2010

Aon to buy Hewitt

The wave of consolidation in the benefits consulting/outsourcing industry is accelerating.  There will now be only three major players - Towers Watson, Mercer, Aon Hewitt.

Aon Corporation will buy Hewitt Associates, for $25.61 in cash and 0.6362 shares of AON for each share of HEW, or $50 a share at Friday's closing prices, a 41% premium.  Hewitt Associates Aon Corporation's Aon Consulting subsidiary will be merged to create AonHewitt.  Note that Hewitt is about three times the size of Aon Consulting, which should be interesting for the merger.