The Aon Corporation, the insurance broker, said Monday that it had agreed to buy human resources company Hewitt Associates for $4.9 billion in cash and stock to expand its consulting operations. þþAon will pay $50 a Hewitt share. That is a 41 percent premium from Hewitt’s closing price Friday of $35.40. þþAon, based in Chicago, plans to integrate Hewitt with its existing consulting and outsourcing operations and create a new unit, Aon Hewitt, after the deal closes. þþRussell P. Fradin, chairman and chief executive of Hewitt, will take on the same roles at Aon Hewitt. þþAon said it will create an “integration team” lead by Greg Besio, chief administrative officer of Aon. The team will include Kristi Savacool, senior vice president of Hewitt Large Markets Benefits Outsourcing; Jim Konieczny, president of Hewitt HR Business Process Outsourcing; Yvan Legris, president of Hewitt Consulting; and Kathryn Hayley, co-chief executive of Aon Consulting. þþHewitt, based in Lincolnshire, Ill., is a human resources consulting and outsourcing company. þþAon said it expected the dealwould save $355 million a year beginning in 2013, primarily from reducing back-office areas, management overlap and public company costs and getting more from technology platforms. It said the deal will help earnings in 2011 and 2012. þþHewitt stockholders will receive $25.61 in cash and about 0.64 percent of a share in Aon stock for each Hewitt share. The total payment will be $2.45 billion in cash and 64 million shares. þþThe deal is expected to close by mid-November. þ
Source: NY Times
