The exact size and value of the transaction was not disclosed.
According to a statement by Howden, the resulting firm will offer greater international scale and more areas of expertise in serving its high net worth clients and partners.
In April, Howden acquired a majority stake in Turkish insurance brokerage ACP as part of its endeavour to expand its EMEA business.
“This is an exciting partnership with the clear industry leader in the high net worth life insurance space,” said David Howden, CEO of Howden and Hyperion. “It will allow us to respond to the continued emergence of significant wealth planning needs across Asia and EMEA by delivering high-quality life insurance products to clients through our extensive international network.”
He continued: “IPG and Howden are extremely complementary businesses with a common culture of empowerment, underpinned by employee-ownership. This allows both businesses to have the agility to respond to changing client needs by developing innovative, market-leading solutions. By joining forces, we will be able to deliver even better solutions to even more clients.”
“The IPG-Howden partnership strengthens and reinforces our commitment to IPG’s core referral partners,” said Jon Baker, founder, chairman, and CEO of IPG. “IPG Howden will leverage an enhanced infrastructure, increased scale, expanded capabilities, greater resources and existing onshore licenses to pursue new opportunities, additional market segments and new life insurance carrier and product solutions.
“By leveraging the unique capabilities, resources and strengths of both entities, IPG Howden will create the necessary critical mass to dramatically increase penetration, revenue and profits in the international life insurance market.”
Howden is retaining IPG’s existing management team, including Peter Tsih, chief executive of IPG Asia & EMEA; Cho Peng Lim, CEO of IPG Singapore; and Benjamin Cheng, CEO of IPG Hong Kong.
Steve Lamb, current chief financial officer of IPG, will expand his role to IPG Howden. The management team will report into a new board of directors with Jon Baker as chairman and David Howden, Goh Chye Huat, Jon Baker, Jr. and Peter Tsih as members.
