Aon plc has agreed to acquire USI Insurance Services from KKR and other shareholders for $17.0 billion in cash, or about $16.7 billion net after roughly $278 million of tax attributes, under a deal signed on August 30, 2026. USI, the tenth-largest U.S. insurance broker with about $3 billion in annual revenue and more than 10,500 employees across nearly 200 offices, serves middle-market clients from Valhalla, New York. The purchase extends Aon’s push into the more than $40 billion U.S. middle market after its $13 billion NFP deal in 2024 and deepens access to Excess & Surplus coverage, which represents about 26% of U.S. commercial property-and-casualty premiums. Aon plans an all-debt financing, expects about $395 million in annual run-rate net adjusted EBITDA synergies, and sees adjusted EPS dilution in 2027 before accretion in 2028, while pausing near-term share repurchases to prioritize deleveraging. Investors split sharply: Aon shares fell roughly 7% on August 31, while KKR gained around 2%. For KKR, which backed USI in a $4.3 billion take-private with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in 2014 and reported further capital adds in later years, the exit is framed as about a 6x return on its 2017 equity investment and 3.4x total balance-sheet capital, with roughly $3.3 billion in after-tax proceeds and about $2 billion of adjusted net income expected after closing. Closing is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026 subject to regulatory approvals, after which USI Chairman and CEO Mike Sicard is slated to become president of Aon and global CEO of its middle-market business.