public limited company traded as nasdaq wltw s & p 500 component predecessors willis group towers watson founded 5 january 2016 ; 8 months ago 2016 01 05 headquarters london united kingdom key people john haley ceo james mccann chairman products risk management insurance brokerage advisory & actuarial services number of employees 39 000 website willis towers watson willis towers watson is a global multinational risk management insurance brokerage and advisory company . 1 contents 1 overview 2 history 2.1 merger process 2.1.1 rationale 2.1.2 criticism 2.2 completion 3 external links 4 references overview edit wills towers watson operates in more than 120 countries has a workforce of more than 39 000 employees and revenues of 8.2 billion . 2 it has joined the hedge fund standards board and follows the voluntary code of standards of best practice endorsed by its members . 3 history edit willis towers watson was formed as a merger of equals between london based willis group holdings plc and arlington va based towers watson & co. 4 merger process edit rationale edit the merging companies announced the merger on 30 june 2015 1 in a deal valued at 18 billion . 4 willis towers watson would maintain its domicile in ireland lowering taxes and list on the new york stock exchange . later in 2015 the company moved its domicile to virginia in the us and delisted from the nyse and relisted on the nasdaq . criticism edit critics to the deal pointed out that the original offer would not be beneficial to towers watson shareholders as they would receive package of shares and a special cash dividend that is valued at 125.13 per share . 5 this value was 9.3 % lower than the trading price of towers watson s stock as at the time of the announcement of the deal . 6 the revised offer in november increased the value to 130.26 per share which was still lower than the trading price of towers watson shares at the time of the announcement . the deal also gives willis group shareholders more control despite the firm having a lower market capitalization compared to towers watson . 5 in an open letter investment adviser driehaus capital management urged towers watson shareholders to vote against a proposed merger . 7 driehaus argued that towers watson was worth between 39 % and 53 % more as a standalone company than by merging with willis group . 8 it was also reported that towers watson ceo john haley had disposed of his shares in the company in early march 2015 while the merger negotiations were ongoing . 9 on november 18 2015 the board of towers watson failed to get enough investor support for the deal with only 40 % of shareholders voting in favor of the proposed merger with willis group . 10 this rejection led to willis group increasing its special cash dividend for towers watson shareholders to usd 10 per share . this revised offer was approved by towers watson shareholders on december 11 2015 . 11 completion edit the merger was closed on 5 january 2016 once all regulatory approvals were received . willis towers watson publicly announced their name change on 5 january . it is the day 1 of the company as willis towers watson . 12 13 willis group shareholders owned 50.1 % while those of towers watson shareholders owned 49.9 % of the combined company . 14 on completion towers watson ceo john haley became the ceo willis group ceo dominic casserley became the president and deputy ceo while willis group chairman james mccann became the chairman of the merged group with the twelve board seats shared equally between the two companies . 15 for the first fiscal quarter of 2016 the first earnings release since the merger completed willis towers watson reported that merger and acquisition costs remain significant and are likely to total between 150 million and 175 million . 16 external links edit willis group towers watson references edit a b willis group and towers watson announce merger to create leading global advisory broking and solutions firm pdf . willis and towers watson . june 30 2015 . retrieved 2015 09 07 . newly merged willis towers watson begins operating . insurance journal . wells media group network . january 5 2016 . retrieved january 9 2016 . hedge fund standards board . hfsb founders & core supporters . retrieved 27 september 2016 . a b willis and towers watson to merge in 18b deal . cnbc . reuters thomson reuters . 2015 06 30 . retrieved 2015 09 07 . a b hoffman liz ; samuel juliet july 1 2015 . willis towers watson a merger of equals not exactly . the wall street journal . news corp. retrieved september 15 2015 . towers watson & co. tw historical prices . yahoo finance . yahoo . 2015 06 29 . retrieved 2015 09 15 . hofmann mark a. 2015 09 17 . towers watson shareholder advises against merger with willis . business insurance . crain communications . retrieved 2015 09 15 . hoffman liz 2015 09 15 . investor moves to rally votes against towers watson deal . the wall street journal . news corp. retrieved 2015 09 17 . hoffman liz 2015 09 27 . towers watson ceo sold stock before big deal . the wall street journal . news corp. retrieved 2015 10 02 . hoffman liz 2015 11 18 . towers watson willis merger in doubt as investors balk . the wall street journal . news corp. retrieved 2015 12 01 . flaherty michael ; subba nikhil december 11 2015 . baum bernadette ; dasgupta shounak eds . towers watson willis merger gets shareholder nod . reuters . thomson reuters . retrieved 2015 12 17 . willis towers watson merger fact sheet pdf . willis towers watson . retrieved 2015 09 07 . comtois james 2015 07 13 . towers watson willis merger to combine strengths . pensions & investments . crain communications inc. retrieved 2015 09 07 . bray chad 2015 06 30 . willis group and towers watson to merge . the new york times . the new york times company . retrieved 2015 09 07 . jones sarah ; basak sonali 2015 06 30 . willis to merge with towers watson in 8.7 billion deal . bloomberg business . bloomberg l.p. retrieved 2015 09 07 . willis towers watson boosts revenue net income ; merger costs material . business insurance . 2016 05 06 . retrieved 2016 05 06 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title willis towers watson & oldid 741761360 categories companies established in 2016mergers and acquisitions2016 establishments in virginiacompanies listed on nasdaqcompanies based in londoncompanies based in arlington county virginiahidden categories engvarb from january 2016use dmy dates from september 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 29 september 2016 at 14 12 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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