Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

John Doyle: Yes, sure. Happy to talk about that, Scott. Again, very pleased with our growth at Marsh. It was particularly strong in the International segment in the quarter. And in spite of mixed economic outcomes in Europe, our business is performing exceptionally well there. And we’ve had good growth over a long period of time in Latin America. Martin, maybe you could share some color on growth in both of those markets.

Martin South : I’d be thrilled to. Yes. As you say, great growth in international, 10%; Latin America, up 14%; APAC, 10%, EMEA, 9%. So really, really pleasing growth. I’d say there are a few areas that are outstanding at the moment, the energy and power business, the transition is fueling growth. Credit Specialties had a terrific quarter in aviation, as well as MMB, which is a big part of our business in Europe delivered strong double-digit growth. And our advisory business, our value proposition is to go to market through a lens to help our clients think through the cost of risk. And so that’s been a big growth area for us as we think that, and we think that will continue to broaden our opportunities. That’s been great growth.

It’s been good growth between renewal and new bid business across the business and we’ve had less lost business. The clients are staying with us longer as they see the value in an organization like ours that has such broad capabilities. So, we feel very good about that across the board. And of course, you’ve got the fundamentals in Latin America with protection gap and somewhat emerging markets in Eastern Europe as well that have had a very strong growth as well. So, we feel well positioned and very positive about the trajectory there.

John Doyle: Thanks, Martin. Scott, do you have a follow-up?

Scott Heleniak: Yes. Just one other quick follow-up here. Just on M&A, you did those a couple of bigger sized deals in the quarter. Just wondering if you could just comment on your M&A pipeline versus where it was maybe six months to nine months ago? You’re feeling a bit better about those opportunities as you go into 2024, and maybe some areas that you’re looking at in particular with the focus areas?

John Doyle: Sure. We remain quite active in the market and the pipeline remains solid for sure. And again, I just want to emphasize how pleased we were to welcome Grant to the family in the third quarter, and we expect to close Hanon relatively soon. They’re two well-led businesses. Well positioned solid growth fundamentals in both of them, expanding our presence in the middle market, which gets back to the mix point that I was making earlier. So overall, we closed five deals in the quarter. Those were the two bigger ones. We’re very excited about it. We’re certainly — it’s an active marketplace. While there’s fewer transactions, there’s a lot that is at play. And so, we’re wide out about and clear on what we’re looking for.

Valuations remain elevated for strong businesses that are in the market. But we know what we’re looking for and we know how to manage the risk of M&A. And so, we’re going to be selective and disciplined, but we expect to continue to deploy capital inorganically.

Operator: And our next question comes from the line of Bob Huang with Morgan Stanley.

Bob Huang : Hi, thank you. So maybe if we can just go back to Oliver Wyman a little bit. Previously, you mentioned that regarding the UBS and Credit Suisse merger deal. That happened in the second quarter. Just curious if that was a meaningful driver of organic growth for Oliver Wyman into the second quarter and third quarter? And also, on top of that, do you expect any residual from that deal to come through in the fourth quarter and going forward for Oliver Wyman?