J. Patrick Gallagher Jr.
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
Thank you. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for our third quarter 2021 earnings call. On the call with me today is Doug Howell, our Chief Financial Officer; as well as heads of our operating divisions. We had a fantastic third quarter. For our combined Brokerage and Risk Management segments, we posted 17% growth in revenue, 10% organic growth and nearly 11% organic if you control for last year's large life sale that we've discussed frequently. Net earnings growth of 22%, adjusted EBITDAC growth of 13%. And we completed five new mergers in the quarter, bringing our year-to-date closed merger count to 19, representing nearly $200 million of annualized revenue. And if you add in the pending Willis Reinsurance merger, that number would be pushing $1 billion.
So the team continues to execute at a very high level, growing organically, growing through acquisitions, improving our productivity, raising our quality and, most importantly, constantly building upon our unique Gallagher culture. A terrific quarter on all measures. Let me provide a brief update on our agreement to purchase Willis Re. On the regulatory approval front, we received competition clearance in five of six jurisdictions required to close, including clearance by the U.S. Department of Justice. The final jurisdiction in the U.K. where the CMA is reviewing the transaction, that's the final jurisdiction.
That review is ongoing, but we believe we're in good shape. Although there is still work to be done, at this point, we believe we're on track for a fourth quarter closing. On the integration front, hundreds of Gallagher and Willis Re professionals are hard at work, ensuring we will be well positioned to service our clients when we close. Our 40-year acquisition history allows us to leverage our proven M&A integration path. Integration is in our DNA. We're looking forward to welcoming 2,200 new colleagues to Gallagher as a family of professionals this holiday season. It's really exciting to think about all the talent and expertise that will be joining us. It's going to be incredible for our combined organization and our clients.
Okay. Back to our quarterly results, starting with the Brokerage segment. Reported revenue growth was excellent at 16%. Of that, 9% was organic revenue growth, at the upper end of our September IR Day expectation and nearly 10% controlling for last year's large life product sale. Net earnings growth was 23%, and we grew our adjusted EBITDAC 13%. Doug will provide some comments on third quarter margin and our fourth quarter outlook, but needless to say, another excellent quarter from the Brokerage team. Let me walk you around the world and break down our organic by geography, starting with our P/C operations.
First, our domestic retail operations were very strong with more than 10% organic. Results were driven by good new business combined with higher exposures and continued rate increases. Risk Placement Services, our domestic wholesale operations, grew 16%. This includes more than 30% organic in open brokerage and 5% organic in our MGA programs and binding businesses. New business and retention were both up a point or so relative to 2020 levels. Outside the U.S., our U.K. operations posted more than 9% organic.
Specialty was 12%, and retail was a solid 6%, both supported by excellent new business production. Australia and New Zealand combined grew more than 6%, also benefiting from good new business. And finally, Canada was up nearly 10% on the back of double-digit new business and stable retention. Moving to our employee benefit brokerage and consulting business. Third quarter organic was up about 5%, in line with our September IR Day commentary. Controlling for last year's large life insurance product sale, organic would have been up high single digits and represents a really nice step-up from the 4% organic we reported for the second quarter and a 2% organic for the first.
So we're experiencing positive revenue momentum and really encouraging sign for the remainder of the year and 2022. So total Brokerage segment organic solidly in that 9% to 10% range, simply an excellent quarter. Next, I'd like to make a few comments on the P/C market. Global P/C rates remain firm overall, and pricing is positive in nearly all product lines. Overall third quarter renewal premium increases were about 8% and similar to increases during the first half of this year. Moving around the world, U.S. retail premium was up about 8%, including nearly 10% increases in casualty and professional liability. Even workers' comp was up around 5%.
In Canada, premium was up about 9%, driven by double-digit increases in professional liability and casualty. Australia and New Zealand combined up 3% to 4%. And U.K. retail was up about 7% with double-digit increases in professional liability, while commercial auto was closer to flat. Finally, within RPS, wholesale open brokerage premiums were up more than 10% and binding operations were up 5%. Additionally, improved economic activity, even despite the Delta variant and supply chain disruptions, are leading to positive policy endorsements and other favorable midterm policy adjustments as our customers add coverages and exposures to their existing policies. So premiums are still increasing almost everywhere.
As we look ahead over the coming quarters, I see the P/C market remaining difficult with rate increases persisting for quite a while. In the near term, we don't see any meaningful changes in carrier underwriting appetite capacity, attachment points or terms and conditions. Long term, markets do not appear to be seeing a slowdown in rising loss costs. Global third quarter natural catastrophe losses, likely in excess of $40 billion, increased cyber incidences, social inflation, replacement cost inflation and supply chain disruptions. And all of this is before factoring in further increases in claim frequency as global economies recover and become even more robust.
All of these factors, combined with low investment returns, suggest that carriers will continue to push for rate. I just don't see a dramatic change for the foreseeable future. So it's still a very difficult and even hard in many spots global P/C environment. But remember, our job as brokers is to help our clients find the best coverage while mitigating price increases through our creativity, expertise and market relationships. As we think about the environment for our employee benefits, the improved business activity, lower unemployment and increased demand for our consulting services is driving more revenue opportunities.
And our customers and prospects continue to rapidly shift away from expense control strategies to plans and tactics that will help them grow their business. And with rebounding covered lives in one of the most challenging labor markets in memory, our consulting businesses are extremely well positioned to deliver creative solutions to our clients. So as I sit here today, I think fourth quarter Brokerage segment organic will be similar to the third quarter, and that could take full year 2021 organic towards 8%. That would be a really nice improvement from the 3.2% organic we reported in 2020. To put that in perspective, 8% would be our best full year Brokerage segment organic growth in nearly two decades, and we think 2022 organic will end up in a very similar range.
Moving on to mergers and acquisitions. I mentioned earlier we completed five brokerage mergers during the quarter, representing about $16 million of estimated annualized revenues. I'd like to thank all our new partners for joining us, and I extend a very warm welcome to our growing Gallagher family of professionals. As I look at our tuck-in M&A pipeline, we have more than 50 term sheets signed or being prepared, representing around $400 million of annualized revenues. So even without the reinsurance merger, it's looking like we will finish 2021 strong, wrapping up another successful year for our merger strategy. Next, I would like to move to our Risk Management segment, Gallagher Bassett.
Third quarter organic growth was 16.6%, even better than our September IR Day expectation. Margins were strong, too. Adjusted EBITDAC margin once again came in above 19%. Results continue to benefit from late 2020 and early 2021 new business wins, in addition to further improvement in new arising claims within general liability and core workers' compensation. Just an exceptional quarter from the team. Looking forward, while our fourth quarter comparison is somewhat more challenging, the recovering global economy, improving employment situation and excellent new business production should result in fourth quarter organic over 10%. That puts us on track for double-digit full year organic and an EBITDAC margin nicely above 19%.
As I look back over the last nine months, I can't help but to be really impressed with our team and our accomplishments. Our commitment to our clients and to each other is evident in our successes, and that is due to our unique Gallagher culture. In these challenging times, our clients are continuing to count on us, and I'm proud of our team's unwavering client focus. Gallagher's unique culture is founded on the values in The Gallagher Way.
Those values have kept us on a steady course throughout the pandemic. And time and time again, during these past months, our clients have shared their trust and appreciation for the value Gallagher brings to the table. It comes down to talented individuals tapping into the power of our expertise across the globe, working together during this ongoing pandemic to continue to deliver for our clients. That's The Gallagher Way, and it's the backbone of who we are as an organization.
Okay. I'll stop now and turn it over to Doug. Doug?