European private equity firm Inflexion is selling its stake in UK insurance broker David Roberts & Partners (DR&P) to specialist insurance and reinsurance brokerage BMS Group.
Manned by nearly 400 colleagues across 25 offices in the UK and Europe, DR&P manages over £620 million in gross written premium for its clients. Inflexion initially invested in DR&P in 2021 before investing further last year to back the company’s continued growth.
In partnership with Inflexion, DR&P’s management executed a successful mergers & acquisitions strategy, creating a network of strategically aligned regional insurance brokers. Significant investment in technology infrastructure also boosted DR&P’s capabilities.
It was highlighted that DR&P achieved an organic growth rate of 23% and completed 14 acquisitions over the past three years. According to Inflexion, these resulted in a tenfold increase in EBITDA and a quadrupling of staff at DR&P while the PE firm was part-owner. When Inflexion invested, the business was only focussed on the UK but now serves clients in 46 countries.
The stake sale follows Inflexion’s successful investment in Bollington Wilson, which was sold to Arthur J. Gallagher in 2021. That investment saw a 133% growth in EBITDA following a merger and five acquisitions.
“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,” Inflexion partner and enterprise fund head Malcolm Coffin (pictured) remarked.
“It also marks Inflexion’s second highly successful investment in the sector. We would like to thank the entire team for their hard work and wish them all the best for the future.”
DR&P chief executive John Page added: “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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