Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. acquired Capital Bauer Insurance Agency, an Albany, N.Y.-based retail insurance broker allowing it to significantly expand its Upstate New York presence.

It seems to be buying season, with perennial agency buyers Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. and Brown & Brown, as well as Richmond, Va.-based Markel getting in the game.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. acquired a Tallahassee, Fla.-based employee benefits communication and enrollment firm as it seeks to expand in the voluntary benefits market.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. acquired Mutual Insurance Services, a Federal Way, Wash.-based managing general agent and wholesale insurance broker.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. is acquiring S. A. Freerks & Associates, a St. Louis-based managing general agent and wholesale insurance broker.

They just keep coming and coming. Almost every day for the last few weeks, an insurance agency has been sold. Sometimes it’s more than one. Deal after deal after deal. Employee benefits firms, small agencies. And more deals for insurance agencies can be expected, industry experts say.

While other brokerages recently reauthorized to accept contingent commissions in a multi-state agreement have rejected the payments, Marsh has announced that it will reject the practice in some instances, but permit it in others.

Regulators in three states have lifted a five-year-old prohibition on contingent commissions for some of the nation’s largest brokerages in return for greater transparency on agent and broker compensation.

With New York regulators unveiling a new broker compensation disclosure rule promoting greater openness in transactions, the head of Willis Group Holdings said the move is not “true transparency.”

Five years after investors filed suit over loses they say were linked to the company failure to disclose illegal practices, Marsh & McLennan Co. has reached a settlement.