A desire to obtain more resources in an increasingly competitive industry drove the leaders of Dayton-based Brower Insurance Agency to seek a deal with insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, Brower’s managing principal said Wednesday.

Marsh & McLennan announced Wednesday it has purchased Brower, a $24 million-a-year insurance agency with 164 employees in offices in Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus and Springfield.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Marsh & McLennan Agency has annual revenues of about $410 million and is based in White Plains, N.Y. It is a subsidiary of Marsh Inc.

Brower was founded in 1935 and provides property/casualty insurance, employee benefit services, and consulting services to individuals and mid-size businesses.

The purchase “was a way to gain more access to resources,” said Chris McAtee, Brower’s managing principal. “It will allow us to grow and perpetuate the agency and serve our clients.”

Brower will serve as Marsh & McLennan’s Midwest hub as it seeks to make more acquisitions. Marsh & McLennan has made 25 acquisitions since November 2009, a spokeswoman said.

All of Brower’s executives and employees, including McAtee, will join Marsh & McLennan, the company said. The agency will retain the Brower name, McAtee said.

The companies spent about five months talking about the acquisition and completed it Nov. 30, McAtee said.

“The good part is that we are (Marsh & McLennan’s) first presence in Ohio and the lower Midwest,” McAtee said. “They will give us additional sales people and resource folks to help us grow the company. We are on the foundation level, and we get to control our destiny by being on the foundation level.”