Insurance broker Ardonagh faces down debt, plots further M&A

UK insurance intermediary  The Ardonagh Group is holding the pace on the M&A plans driving its growth in specialty and expanding beyond UK borders even as debt metrics climb.

Ardonagh has "a substantial pipeline of highly accretive add-on M&A" and remains "focused on acquiring high quality platforms with strong growth / product synergy potential," management said in a presentation to its H1 earnings release.

Ardonagh claims to have completed three small deals during the second quarter for ca. £1 million in new EBITDA.

Another eight deals have since been completed or await a regulatory sign-off, offering to bring £31.5 million in additional EBITDA to the group. Major names awaiting regulatory approval include MDS, Léons and Glennons.

Management claims it has 321 million in available liquidity for further M&A even after the deals agreed to date in Q3.

But debt levels and overall leverage is up at the privately-held brokerage group, even after the introduction of fresh capital in Q4 2021. Net debt to adjusted EBITDA rose to a notable 6.7x pro-forma end-Q2 from 6.3x just six months prior.

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