WILLIS AND TOWERS WATSON TO MERGE IN $18BN DEAL

Willis and Towers Watson yesterday announced the two companies are to amalgamate in an all-stock "merger of equals" transaction worth $18bn. The combined entity will be called Willis Towers Watson, with approximately 39,000 employees in more than 120 countries, and pro forma revenue of approximately $8.2bn. The amalgamation is being billed as a merger of equals, with Towers Watson’s chairman and chief executive, John Haley, taking on the chief executive’s role. Dominic Casserley, Willis’ chief executive, will become deputy chief executive and president. A board of 12 will be equally split between representatives of Willis and Towers Watson. Willis shareholders will own 50.1% of the combined entity, with Towers Watson shareholders owning the remaining 49.9%. The combined group will operate through four business lines – corporate risk and broking, led by Willis’s Tim Wright; exchange solutions, led by Jim Foreman (Towers Watson); human capital and benefits (Julie Gebauer, Towers Watson); and investment, risk and reinsurance (Casserley). The combination is expected to yield between $120m and $125m of cost synergies within three years of closing. The combined firm plans to maintain its Irish domicile to allow it to maintain an effective tax rate in the mid-20% range.