Synex Performance has acquired JDF Services Financiers, an employee benefits firm located in Thetford Mines.
In partnering with JDF, Synex says it is drawing on the know-how, talent and extensive expertise of its CEO and founder Jean-Denis Roy. Roy has over 30 years of experience in employee benefits to his credit. He is both a life insurance advisor and a group insurance and annuity advisor.
Roy specializes in self-insurance, Synex adds. JDF Services Financiers thus helps corporate clients that do not want to take out insurance on their employees group benefits, but rather bear the risk themselves.
Getting to know the niche
President and Chief Vision Officer of Synex Business Performance Yan Charbonneau told Insurance Portal that this was his first foray into the self-insurance niche.
Synex calls self-insurance “a highly niche product that is worth developing with clients. Charbonneau adds that this arrangement is little known by most brokers and insurers. “Self-insurance is still not explained to clients very well,” he says.
“We want to broaden our spectrum of services and our added value,” Jean-Sébastien Larivière, the president of Synex Insurance, told Insurance Portal. “Jean-Denis’ expertise gives us a different dimension in the market,” he adds.
Larivière also believes that the acquisition allows Synex to intensify its presence in the Thetford Mines region in P&C and group insurance, with a clientele of medium-sized businesses. Neither Charbonneau nor Larivière would specify the volume of business or the number of clients acquired as a result of the transaction.
Charbonneau and Larivière confirm that both the JDF Services Financiers brand and firm will remain intact, in line with their strategic partnership approach. The JDF team, consisting of Roy and Marie-Pierre Guay, Director of Operations, will remain in place “to take care of its current clientele and to ensure business development,” the two Synex executives underline.
Larivière describes Guay as a key person in the company. “She has worked with Jean-Denis for more than 15 years. She will continue with us in operations.”
Organic growth in sight
Yan Charbonneau believes that the deal will fuel organic growth. “Going after a specialty that we can offer to both our P&C insurance and group insurance clients made JDF Financial Services very appealing,” he says, adding that cross-selling is pivotal to the group’s acquisition strategy.
In parallel with the JDF deal, Synex Group Solutions has been snapping up group insurance firms. For example, in May 2022, Synex Business Performance acquired Avantages Sociaux Intégrés (ASI). A month earlier, the group completed its largest group insurance acquisition to date by adding ZLC Employee Benefits Solutions (ZLC EBS), a firm with more than $130 million in premiums.
