Howden kicks off ‘new chapter’: £1bn for M&A and to target top talent
Global broker Howden has secured over £875 million ($1.1 billion) in debt and equity funding to expand its growth strategy. The fresh funding will enable Howden to attract top talent, pursue new initiatives and engage in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), with over £1 billion in total cash and facilities available for investment. With the formation of HowdenTiger in January 2023, Howden believes the fresh investment heralds the start of the next phase of its development.
Howden closed a seven-year, $500 million term loan on March 24, backed by more than 60 lenders, including over 10 new lenders to the Group. The Group also expanded its revolving credit facility across multiple banking relationships, from £185 million to £360 million.
Peter Blanc (pictured left), executive chairman of Howden UK&I, has been appointed to take the new role of head of M&A, reporting to David Howden. He will support Howden and the leadership team to deliver the group’s strategy to build out its geographic reach and product expertise “where it can make a difference” across retail broking, reinsurance broking and underwriting.
Attracting talent by acquiring entrepreneurial businesses with “standout expertise” and investing in new hires remains a key focus for the group's growth strategy.
David Howden (pictured right), CEO of Howden Group Holdings, said: “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.”
Following its acquisition of TigerRisk Partners in January 2023, Howden now comprises “the leading international retail broker outside the US”, one of four top tier reinsurance brokers, and the “largest” international MGA. The group, in its pro-forma results for 2022, surpassed £2 billion in revenue, which was achieved through organic growth (19% in FY22, 19% in FY21) and other growth initiatives such as mergers and acquisitions.
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.
“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. 4,500 of us now own a share in the business we are building.”
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