Wells Fargo Insurance Services -- a unit of San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. -- has acquired the EMAR Group, a large commercial insurance brokerage based in Livingston, N.J., with offices in Florida, Wells said Monday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

EMAR, founded in 1971 by Emil Solimine, is a leading independent insurance agency in the tri-state (New Jersey, New York, Connecticut) region, focusing primarily on middle market and upper mid-market clients and risk-management customers, Wells said Oct. 13.

Wells Fargo Insurance Services is now the world’s fifth-largest insurance brokerage. Boilerplate language in the company’s press releases says it has 170 offices in 37 states and 7,200 insurance professionals, responsible for placing $11.5 billion in premiums. But that number hasn’t been adjusted in recent months, during which the brokerage firm has gone on an acquisition streak.

Last month, for example, it nabbed assets of brokerage/employee benefits and financial services firm Herder-Tarricone Associates of Three Bridges, N.J.; Professional Benefits Associates LLC of Greensboro, N.C., and Spokane, Washington’s Char Clark Associates Inc. insurance brokerage. In August, its San Francisco Bay Area-based ABD Insurance and Financial Services unit acquired Santa Rosa’s Martin Financial/Insurance Services, a seven-employee brokerage and benefits firm headed by Bud Martin.

Earlier, Wells’ (NYSE: WFC) insurance unit bought St. Louis-based Insurance Brokers of America in February, and four firms in December of last year: Rogers & Belding Insurance Agency Inc. of El Paso, Texas; Dover, N.H.-based The Richardson Group; Minneapolis-based The Brehm Group’s employee benefits division; and Technology Insurance Services Inc., of Redwood City. Capstone Advisors, Brehm’s estate planning division was not included in the Minneapolis deal.

Wells Fargo acquired brokerage giant Acordia Inc. in May 2001, and followed by purchasing East Palo Alto-based Greater Bay Bancorp in October 2007 for $1.5 billion, along with Greater Bay’s Redwood City-based ABD insurance brokerage and benefits consulting unit.

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