Private equity firm Onex Corp. (TSX: OCX) will acquire USI Insurance Services from GS Capital Partners VI Fund LP in a deal valued at $2.3 billion.

Onex, based in Toronto, has about $14 billion in assets under management.

USI employees and GS Capital Partners took the company private in 2007. When the deal closes, Onex and USI employees will own 100 percent of the company.

USI, headquartered in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., offers property and casualty insurance and employee benefits.

Onex managing director Robert Le Blanc says he expects the company to grow organically and through acquisitions.

Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, RBC Capital Markets LLC and UBS Securities LLC provided bank and bridge financing commitments. Kaye Scholer acted as Onex’s legal counsel, while Goldman Sachs & Co. and RBC Capital Markets LLC advised GS Capital. Weil Gotshal & Manges provided legal counsel to GS Capital.

Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LLP announced it would acquire insurance firm Alliant Insurance Services Inc. from Blackstone (NYSE: BX) on Nov. 23. 

For more coverage on the insurance industry, see “Insurance Industry Experiences M&A Uptick.” 

Financial services industry