The deal was loudly touted as Gallagher’s biggest ever employee benefit deal , but the acquisition of Buck’s consulting business did not register a mention on the Financial Times’ website. In truth , Buck’s ownership has been a game of pass the parcel for the past 20 years and I suspect that for most of us, the story induced a yawn.

Our new forever home?

I suspect this is wish-fulfillment. At some stage, Buck and its client-base will get stability, but for now, another period of disruption beckons. The same goes for Gallagher

In the UK Gallagher’s former CEO of its UK employee benefits consulting division, Nick Burns, recently left the company. At the start of December the employee engagement company Reward Gateway announced that Burns would be their new CEO.

In recent years, Gallagher has purchased Stackhouse Poland, the retail brokerage interests of Willis Towers Watson and the communications firm AHC. They are a maw which is still open and as businesses and business leaders come and go, “forever home” seems a long voyage away.