Willis_Towers_Watson

Willis Towers Watson

Willis Towers Watson

Global insurance company

For the Chicago skyscraper currently named after the company, see Willis Tower.

Willis Towers Watson plc, branded as WTW and stylised in its logo as wtw, is a British-American multinational company providing insurance services. The company was founded in 2016, following a merger of the Willis Group and Towers Watson.

Quick Facts Company type, Traded as ...

Overview

WTW operates in more than 140 countries and has a workforce of more than 40,000 employees.[2] It joined the Hedge Fund Standards Board and follows the voluntary code of standards of best practice endorsed by its members.[3]

History

The former Willis Towers Watson formed as a merger of equals between London based Willis Group and Arlington based Towers Watson.[4] Towers Watson was formed as a merger between Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt in 2009.[5]

WTW changed its Nasdaq stock ticker symbol from "WLTW" to "WTW" effective January 10, 2022.[6]

Merger process

The companies announced the merger on June 30, 2015[7] in a deal valued at $18 billion.[4] Willis Towers Watson would maintain its domicile in Ireland and list on the New York Stock Exchange. Later in 2015, the company moved its domicile to Virginia in the US and delisted from the NYSE and relisted on the NASDAQ. Willis Group exercised its right to acquire the remainder of Gras Savoye and agreed to purchase 85% of Miller, the leading London independent wholesale insurance broker.[8]

Criticism

Critics of the deal pointed out that the original offer would not be beneficial to Towers Watson shareholders as they would receive a package of shares and a special cash dividend that is valued at $125.13 per share.[9] This value was 9.3% lower than the trading price of Towers Watson's stock was at the time of the announcement of the deal.[10] The revised offer in November increased the value to $130.26 per share, which was still lower than the trading price of Towers Watson shares at the time of the announcement. The deal also gave Willis Group shareholders more control despite the company having a lower market capitalization compared to Towers Watson.[9]

In an open letter, investment adviser Driehaus Capital Management urged Towers Watson shareholders to vote against a proposed merger.[11] Driehaus argued that Towers Watson was worth between 39% and 53% more as a standalone company than by merging with Willis Group.[12] It was also reported that Towers Watson CEO John Haley had disposed of his shares in the company in early March 2015 while the merger negotiations were ongoing.[13]

On 18 November 2015, the board of Towers Watson failed to get enough investor support for the deal, with only 40% of shareholders voting in favor of the proposed merger with Willis Group.[14] This rejection led to Willis Group increasing its special cash dividend for Towers Watson shareholders to USD $10 per share. This revised offer was approved by Towers Watson shareholders on 11 December 2015.[15]

Completion of merger

The merger closed on January 5, 2016 once all regulatory approvals were received. Willis Towers Watson publicly announced their name change on January 5.[16][17] Willis Group shareholders owned 50.1% while those of Towers Watson shareholders owned 49.9% of the combined company.[18]

On completion, Towers Watson CEO, John Haley, became the CEO, Willis Group CEO, Dominic Casserley, became the President and Deputy CEO while Willis Group Chair, James McCann, became the chair of the merged group with the twelve board seats shared equally between the two companies.[19]

Called off acquisition by Aon

On 9 March 2020, Aon announced its planned acquisition of Willis Towers Watson[20][21] for nearly $30 billion in an all-stock deal that would have created the world’s largest insurance broker.[22] The deal was called off on 26 July 2021 after failing to reach agreement with the US Department of Justice.[23]

Carl Hess becomes CEO

In August 2021, Carl Hess was selected as the company’s president and next CEO to succeed on January 1, 2022 upon John Haley’s retirement.[24][25][26] A new global leadership team was also announced in August 2021.[27][28][29] In January 2022, Carl Hess formally succeeded John Haley as CEO and Willis Towers Watson became WTW.[30][31][32]

Activist stakes

Investors Starboard Value and Elliott Management were reported to have taken substantial stakes in the company in 2021.[33]

Acquisition of Butterwire

In July 2022, Willis Towers Watson acquired Butterwire, a FinTech provider of data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning platforms. [34]

References

  1. [1]
    "Willis Towers Watson 2023 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 22 February 2024.
  2. [2]
    Artemis.bm, Steven Evans- (16 August 2021). "Willis Towers Watson names Carl Hess as next CEO - Artemis.bm". Artemis.bm - The Catastrophe Bond, Insurance Linked Securities & Investment, Reinsurance Capital, Alternative Risk Transfer and Weather Risk Management site. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  3. [3]
    "Willis Towers Watson announces Carl Hess as John Haley's successor - Reinsurance News". ReinsuranceNe.ws. 16 August 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  4. [4]
    "Willis and Towers Watson to merge in $18B deal". CNBC. Reuters. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  5. [5]
    Sivaraman, Jui Chakravorty Das, Aarthi (29 June 2009). "Towers Perrin, Watson Wyatt to merge in $3.5 billion deal". Reuters. Retrieved 8 November 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. [6]
    "Willis Towers Watson changing ticker symbol to 'WTW'". Marketwatch.com. 7 January 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  7. [7]
    "Willis Group and Towers Watson Announce Merger to Create Leading Global Advisory, Broking and Solutions Firm" (PDF). Willis and Towers Watson. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  8. [8]
    "Our History". Willis Towers Watson. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  9. [9]
    Hoffman, Liz; Samuel, Juliet (1 July 2015). "Willis-Towers Watson: A Merger of Equals—Not Exactly". Wall Street Journal. News Corp. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  10. [10]
    "Towers Watson & Co. (TW) - Historical Prices". Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo!. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  11. [11]
    Hofmann, Mark A. (17 September 2015). "Towers Watson shareholder advises against merger with Willis". Business Insurance. Crain Communications. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  12. [12]
    Hoffman, Liz (15 September 2015). "Investor Moves to Rally Votes Against Towers Watson Deal". Wall Street Journal. News Corp. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  13. [13]
    Hoffman, Liz (27 September 2015). "Towers Watson CEO Sold Stock Before Big Deal". Wall Street Journal. News Corp. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  14. [14]
    Hoffman, Liz (18 November 2015). "Towers Watson, Willis Merger in Doubt as Investors Balk". Wall Street Journal. News Corp. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  15. [15]
    Flaherty, Michael; Subba, Nikhil (11 December 2015). Baum, Bernadette; Dasgupta, Shounak (eds.). "Towers Watson, Willis merger gets shareholder nod". Reuters. Thomson Reuters. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  16. [16]
    "Willis Towers Watson - Merger Fact Sheet" (PDF). Willis Towers Watson. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  17. [17]
    Comtois, James (13 July 2015). "Towers Watson, Willis merger to combine strengths". Pensions & Investments. Crain Communications. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  18. [18]
    Bray, Chad (30 June 2015). "Willis Group and Towers Watson to Merge". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  19. [19]
    Jones, Sarah; Basak, Sonali (30 June 2015). "Willis to Merge With Towers Watson in $8.7 Billion Deal". Bloomberg Business. Bloomberg LP. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  20. [20]
    Dummett, Ben (9 March 2020). "Insurance Broker Aon Strikes Year's Biggest M&A Deal on Tumultuous Markets Day" – via www.wsj.com.
  21. [21]
    "Aon's $80 Billion Merger With Willis Towers Watson – Global Legal Chronicle". 11 March 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  22. [22]
    Bauer, Elizabeth. "Aon Buys Willis Towers Watson: Another Waypoint In The Demise of Employer Pensions". Forbes. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  23. [23]
    "Insurance brokers Aon and Willis Towers Watson scrap their $30 billion merger". CNBC. 26 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  24. [24]
    "Carl Aaron Hess, Willis Towers Watson PLC: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  25. [25]
    "Willis Towers Watson announces Carl Hess as John Haley's successor - Reinsurance News". ReinsuranceNe.ws. 16 August 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  26. [26]
    Artemis.bm, Steven Evans- (16 August 2021). "Willis Towers Watson names Carl Hess as next CEO - Artemis.bm". Artemis.bm - The Catastrophe Bond, Insurance Linked Securities & Investment, Reinsurance Capital, Alternative Risk Transfer and Weather Risk Management site. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  27. [27]
    "Willis Towers Watson announces new global leadership team". www.consulting.us. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  28. [28]
    Company, Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (30 August 2021). "Willis Towers Watson names new Global Leadership Team to drive the company forward". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  29. [29]
    Gangcuangco, Terry. "Willis Towers Watson outlines restructure – Aubert to depart". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  30. [30]
    "Willis, Towers and Watson names lost in WTW rebrand". www.professionalpensions.com. 12 January 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  31. [31]
    Gangcuangco, Terry. "Willis Towers Watson unveils new branding". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  32. [32]
    Company, Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (25 January 2022). "WTW celebrates new name and Nasdaq ticker symbol with market opening ceremony". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  33. [33]
    Dummett, Ben; Lombardo, Cara (30 September 2021). "Activists Starboard, Elliott Have Taken Stakes in Willis Towers Watson". Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  34. [34]
    "WTW Acquires Climate Risk Analytics Firm Butterwire". Insurance Journal. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.


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