AON Flat, KKR Rises Overnight As $17B Insurance Megadeal Reportedly Looms: Retail’s Bullish On Just One For Now

• The potential deal could be announced as soon as Monday, if it goes through, as per the report. 
• The acquisition of USI would broaden Aon’s risk management, healthcare benefits, and retirement services, while potentially boosting its earnings per share as early as 2028, according to the report.
• The deal comes as KKR has been offloading assets as it attempts to cash in on high-performing investments and strategically pivot toward massive growth sectors like AI. 

Shares of Aon plc. (AON) were trading flat overnight heading into Monday, while KKR & Co. Inc. (KKR) shares edged higher after reports emerged that the former is nearing a deal to acquire insurance brokerage USI Insurance from the private-equity firm. 

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter, Aon is looking to take over the insurance arm for roughly $17 billion, including debt. The potential deal could be announced later in the day, if it goes through, as per the report. 

How Will The Deal Help Aon?

Aon is a major insurance brokerage and consulting firm that has been eyeing its expansion among midsize businesses. 

Earlier in January 2026, Aon acquired LTA Assekuranz, a German insurance broker specializing in services for law firms, tax advisers and other professional-services firms, strengthening its specialist capabilities in the German market. 

In April 2024, Aon completed its $13.4 billion acquisition of NFP, significantly expanding its middle-market insurance brokerage, employee benefits, wealth management and retirement advisory businesses. The deal added more than 7,700 employees and broadened Aon’s reach among midsize companies. 

In March 2024, Aon also acquired Humn.ai's technology assets and intellectual property, adding its AI-powered risk and fleet analytics capabilities to Aon’s commercial insurance offerings.

The acquisition of USI, which helps businesses and individuals select insurance policies and design employee benefit plans and generates roughly $3 billion in annual revenue, would broaden Aon’s risk management, healthcare benefits and retirement services, while potentially boosting its earnings per share as early as 2028, according to a person familiar with the matter.

KKR Has Been On An Asset Unloading Spree

The deal comes as the private equity firm has been offloading assets as it attempts to cash in on high-performing investments and strategically pivot toward massive growth sectors like AI. 

KKR has accelerated its portfolio exits in 2026. In the second quarter, the firm completed eight major sales, including Kokusai Electric at nearly 20x its invested equity, HD Hyundai Marine Solution at 7.5x, BrightSpring Health Services at 6.2x, OHB SE at 5.5x and OneStream Software at 4.5x. 

More recently, it sold its data-center cooling company CoolIT Systems, which generated a return of about 15x, and Circor Aerospace’s commercial and defense aerospace unit. KKR also closed a record $23 billion North American private-equity fund earlier this year.

AON Vs KKR: Which Stock Does Retail Prefer?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around AON stock was ‘bullish’ at the time of writing, climbing up from the ‘bearish’ territory about a month ago. 

Meanwhile, sentiment around KKR stock has slipped to ‘bearish’ from ‘bullish’ territory last month. 

AON stock is up more than 3% this year. Meanwhile, KKR stock is down more than 15%. 

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