Overland Park-based Virtus LLC will merge with a Memphis full-service insurance agency, expanding the company’s reach and scope as it works to achieve its goal of being a top 100 brokerage by the end of this year.
Kemmons Wilson Insurance Group LLC (KWIG) focuses on the hotel, hospitality and lodging sector, and adding KWIG supplements Virtus’ specializations in the real estate, private equity, construction and restaurant sectors, according to a release from the companies.
Once combined — the companies didn’t disclose a closing date — the operation will have more than 100 employees, premium volume topping $250 million and revenue exceeding $20 million. That will put Virtus in the top 100, the release says. Virtus reported 60-plus total employees in 2021, including more than 40 in the metro area.
Founded in 2013, Virtus saw its revenue grow by 100% in 2020, CEO Andrew Gray said in an interview last year. The company’s aim of not trying to be everything to everyone drives its growth, Gray said.
“Our initial thesis was to be an inch wide and a mile deep,” he said in 2021.
The company’s offices outside the metro area include St. Louis, Chicago, Dallas and Denver. Virtus reported revenue of $11.55 million in 2021. Local premium volume reached $153 million in 2021, putting Virtus at No. 14 on the Independent Insurance Agencies List.
The KWIG deal isn’t the first for Virtus. It acquired Denver-based First Line Insurance Services in 2020, adding capabilities in vacation rental and storage unit coverage. The year before that, Virtus acquired Cobbs Allen’s Kansas City employee benefits practice.
KWIG grew out of the Kemmons Wilson Cos. and was started in 1952 to support Holiday Inns founded by entrepreneur Kemmons Wilson, the Memphis Business Journal reports. KWIG has about 30 total employees.
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