Brightside bought by PE firm; will seek acquisitions

UK insurance broker Brightside Group has been acquired by AnaCap Financial Partners, a specialist European financial services private equity firm.

This marks AnaCap’s third deal in the insurance space in just over a year, following its acquisitions of Simply Business in July 2013, and more recently AssurOne Group last month.

Under the terms of the agreement, funds advised by AnaCap will acquire 100 percent of the company.

Brightside said its management will partner with AnaCap to scale up the group’s operation through the implementation of an acquisition strategy targeting niche broking businesses based in the UK.

It added that the growth strategy for the business will also focus on forming new insurer and distribution relationships, further development of the company’s online capabilities and expanding areas of product specialisation to create a scaled, high margin insurance specialist.

Paul Williams, Brightside’s chief executive officer, said: “We are delighted to enter into partnership with a financial services specialist investor like AnaCap. We look forward to building upon Brightside’s success to-date and drawing upon AnaCap’s considerable expertise to grow the business into one of the leading specialist personal and commercial lines insurance brokers in the UK market.”

Jatender Aujla, investment director at AnaCap, added: “Brightside has grown rapidly over the last few years to become a scaled and relevant player in both the UK personal and commercial lines insurance broking market. We are excited to work with the business during its next phase of development and growth.”