Private equity to buy Hub International for $4 billion

CHICAGO, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Hellman & Friedman said it had agreed to buy Chicago's Hub International, an insurance brokerage, for more than $4 billion.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the deal values Hub at $4.4 billion. The terms of the deal include transfer of $1.7 billion in equity that comes from Hellman and Friedman and from the firm's management, sources close to the deal making told the Journal.

Hub is a private firm that was taken off of public listings in 2007, when it was purchased for about $2 billion by equity investment firm Apax Partners and Morgan Stanley.

There has been a growing trend for several years of private equity firms buying companies from other private equity firms. In 2012, equity to equity deals made up 38 percent of the deals made by investment firms, the Journal said.

Hub has 300 offices in the United States and Canada and operates in Latin America, specifically in Puerto Rico and Brazil.

"The opportunity is enormous" for making more deals in Latin America, Hub Chief Executive Officer Martin Hughes said.

Hub's management will continue to maintain a significant position with the company when the acquisition is completed.