Tue, 30 Jul 2024 | BUSINESS SALE
Private equity firm Inflexion has agreed to sell insurance brokerage David Roberts & Partners (DR&P) to BMS Group, after helping to drive significant growth at the Southport-based company over the past three years.
Inflexion initially invested in the company in 2021 and further supported its growth with a re-investment in 2023. The investment has involved a buy-and-build strategy focused on building a network of strategically-aligned regional insurance brokers, as well as significant investment in the company’s technology infrastructure.
Since Inflexion’s initial investment, DR&P has grown by 23 per cent, completing 14 acquisitions, recording a tenfold increase in EBITDA and quadrupling its headcount. DR&P now employs close to 400 staff across 25 offices in the UK and Europe, handling more than £620 million of gross written premiums (GWP) for its clients.
In the year to December 2022, the company, which was founded in 1977, reported revenue of £23.3 million and EBITDA of £8.3 million. Despite being UK-only focused when Inflexion initially invested, the company now has active clients in 46 countries globally and enjoys 95 per cent client retention.
The company has been sold to independent specialist insurance and reinsurance broker BMS Group in a deal reportedly valued at £425 million, which would represent around a 51x multiple of DR&P’s most recently reported EBITDA. The deal, which is BMS Group’s largest acquisition to date, creates a business managing more than £8 billion in GWP.
Malcolm Coffin, Partner and Head of Inflexion’s Enterprise Fund, commented: “Our partnership with DR&P has been both highly productive and richly rewarding for all involved, a testimony to the tremendous skill and energy of such a talented management team in delivering industry-leading organic performance alongside thoughtful and impressive acquisitive-led growth.”
Coffin added that the deal represented Inflexion’s second successful investment in the brokerage sector, following its sale of Bollington Wilson to US firm Arthur J Gallagher in 2021. Under Inflexion’s ownership, Bollington Wilson completed a “transformational” merger, five acquisitions and recorded EBITDA growth of 133 per cent.
John Page, Chief Executive of DR&P, said: “We are proud of what has been achieved with the support of Inflexion over the past three years. Their investment has allowed us to build a market-leading business in the UK insurance market. We believe there are significant opportunities for further growth ahead of us.”
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