LONDON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mercer, a global consulting leader in advancing health, wealth and career, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC), announced today that it has agreed to acquire Thomsons Online Benefits, a leading global benefits software business powered by its award-winning DarwinTM platform. With this acquisition, Mercer and Thomsons will combine world class consulting and broking with innovative technology that is driving transformation in the way that benefits are designed, communicated and administered. This will offer companies and employees a unique, market-leading global and local benefit experience. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“The combination of Thomsons’ Darwin™ technology with Mercer aligns to the growing demand from multinational employers to offer a common yet locally tailored employee benefits platform that delivers the latest in creative engagement, modern design, analytic insights and administrative efficiency and support,” said Julio Portalatin, President and CEO of Mercer. “The acquisition also drives future growth in local markets across the world where Thomsons and Mercer are already well established by putting technology at the heart of addressing employer and employee needs.”
Michael Whitfield, Thomsons CEO said: “Over the last several years, as we have grown closer to Mercer it has become increasingly clear that we have a fantastic opportunity to continue the Thomsons’ success story of the last 16 years as part of Mercer, with our Darwin™ technology helping to power future growth and business transformation.” He further added: “The acquisition by Mercer will provide our clients with world class broking and consulting, wherever they need it, as well as offering the ability to continue to work with Thomsons as an agnostic technology solution. It further allows us to scale the development of Darwin™ faster globally, as well as locally. I am also delighted about the career and personal development opportunities that this move offers to Thomsons’ employees all over the world."
“Now global organizations have a trusted partner who has the end-to-end benefits offering and experience essential to support creating a healthier, happier and more engaged workforce,” commented Chris Bruce, Managing Director and Thomsons co-founder. “Technology is changing every function of HR and the greatest opportunity to have an impact is in benefits,” he added.
According to Jacques Goulet, President, Health and Wealth businesses for Mercer, “Acquiring Thomsons will affirm Mercer’s commitment to anticipating clients’ rapidly evolving needs and investing in the best solutions that help them gain competitive edge and win employee hearts and minds. Thomsons will align and significantly enhance our technology capabilities and we are delighted to make our highly successful partnership permanent for a best-in-class employee experience.”
About Mercer
Mercer is a global consulting leader in talent, health, retirement and investments. Mercer helps clients around the world advance the health, wealth and careers of their most vital asset – their people. Mercer’s more than 20,000 employees are based in 43 countries and the firm operates in over 140 countries. Mercer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC), a global professional services firm offering clients advice and solutions in the areas of risk, strategy and people. With annual revenue of $13 billion and 60,000 colleagues worldwide, Marsh & McLennan Companies is also the parent company of Marsh, a leader in insurance broking and risk management; Guy Carpenter, a leader in providing risk and reinsurance intermediary services; and Oliver Wyman, a leader in management consulting. For more information, visit www.mercer.com. Follow Mercer on Twitter @Mercer.
About Thomsons
Thomsons is a SaaS provider of global employee benefits and employee engagement software. Our award-winning platform, Darwin™, is the global market leader for automated employee benefits administration. With over 1 million worldwide users, Darwin™ connects employees with their benefits in over 80 countries and 24 languages. By using the right combination of editions, Darwin™ provides a tailored solution to meet a variety of employee benefit and reward needs, including employee engagement, managing risk, controlling costs and streamlining benefits administration. Its ability to constantly evolve and cater for shifting workforce needs has made it the provider of choice for seven of the world’s top ten technology companies. Thomsons has received 105 industry awards, including the prestigious Brandon Hall Group gold award for Best Advance in Rewards and Recognition Technology in 2015.
