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American Growth Insurance buys Heller-Kowitz Insurance Advisors
OPTIS Partners data shows agency M&A buyers have thinned for four straight years, while the deal total has fallen to the lowest rolling level since early 2019.
American Growth Insurance (AGI) has entered the insurance brokerage market through its acquisition of Baltimore-based Heller-Kowitz Insurance Advisors, a private transaction that the parties did not disclose in financial terms, according to Insurance Business.
The deal is described as the first step in AGI’s plan to build a network of operator-led agencies beginning in the Mid-Atlantic. The acquired agency, founded in 2014 by Steve Heller and Brian Kowitz, has designations tied to agency best practices and writes personal lines, commercial lines, employee benefits, and life insurance, the outlet said.
Insurance Business reports that the acquisition comes amid a buyer-side pullback in agency M&A. OPTIS Partners estimates the number of unique acquirers active in agency deals fell from 104 in 2024 to 95 in 2025, even as the firm estimates about 30,000 independent agencies under $1.25 million in revenue remain in operation and most do not have a succession plan.
The outlet also cites OPTIS Partners’ data that trailing 12-month agency transaction volume totaled 646, the lowest rolling count since early 2019. It added that private equity-backed and hybrid buyers still accounted for 75% of the deals, with 80% of everything closed in the second quarter of 2026, and that 37 of 68 unique buyers active in the first half of 2026 were private equity-backed, including six buyers making their first-ever agency acquisition.