Howden raises funds to target M&A and talent
Howden Group, which has a growing presence in Bermuda, has raised more than £875 million across debt and equity, which it says it will use for M&A, new initiatives and an investment in talent.
On 24 March, Howden finalised a $500 million seven-year term loan, with more than 60 lenders providing capital, including more than 10 new lenders to the Group. It also increased its revolving credit facility from £185 million to £360 million across a range of banking relationships.
Following the completion of the acquisition of TigerRisk Partners in January 2023, Howden now comprises the biggest international retail broker outside the US, one of four top tier reinsurance brokers, and the largest international MGA.
Peter Blanc (pictured), executive chairman of Howden UK&I, will now take on the new role of head of M&A, reporting to David Howden, CEO Howden Group.
David Howden said: “With the formation of HowdenTiger in January we have completed the architecture of the Group. With the £2bn revenue milestone passed and with 14,500 employees across 50 countries and $30bn of GWP, we have the scale and leverage to be the difference that clients and talent are seeking. And now, following the £5bn we have invested over the last three years, we have raised a further £1bn giving us the financial firepower to accelerate at pace by joining with the best businesses and brightest talent who are looking for a forever home where they can continue to deliver their expertise and service in a culture that cherishes entrepreneurial spirit.
“Our focus now turns to three key areas: unlocking the extraordinary value within the Group by harnessing our collective power; attracting talent and aligned businesses; and investing in our infrastructure to ensure our experts are empowered to do their best for our clients.
“It is Peter who, in bringing Aston Lark to Howden, coined the phrase ‘forever home’. Having built Aston Lark from the ground up through his well-recognised ability to identify and execute high quality transactions with a deep-rooted cultural alignment he is obviously very well-placed to support me and our leadership teams in the further development of our very healthy M&A pipeline as we begin the next chapter of our development. With our leading position in the UK now established, we will continue to focus heavily on our European reach as well as developing our wider global footprint with acquisitions of high quality businesses where we can bring choice to clients.
“Our unique capital model has been the engine of our journey. I am thrilled that the clarity of our model allows us to raise competitively priced debt in extraordinary capital markets conditions. The longevity of our equity partners, General Atlantic (2013), CDPQ (2018) and Hg Capital (2021), and their belief in and support for our model is borne out in their continued investment in the Group, with each investing £450m since 2021. But most of all it is our employee ownership heart of which I am proud. In our most recent internal share offer we welcomed 1,000 new employees as shareholders. Some 4,500 of us now own a share in the business we are building.”
