The Ardonagh Group has today revealed, that further to its initial announcement on 26 May 2021, the firm has completed its $500 million (approx. £365.77 million) acquisition of the insurance operations of BGC Partners, Inc.
Under the terms of the transaction, Besso Insurance, Ed Broking, and Piiq Risk Partners will join Bishopsgate, Compass London Markets, Inver Re and Price Forbes in the Ardonagh Specialty and Capital platform.
The move creates the largest independent specialty broker in the London market with offices across the globe. The Ardonagh Specialty and Capital arm now has a combined $450m revenue, placing over $5bn GWP on behalf of clients with offices in France, Germany, Turkey, the UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Australia, South Africa, Chile, Brazil, the USA and Bermuda.
The whole group, including Ardonagh Advisory, Ardonagh Retail and Ardonagh International, now places $13 billion GWP (approx. £9.51 billion) and has $1.4 billion annual revenue. The Ardonagh Specialty leadership team includes James Masterton as chairman of Specialty Broking and Andrew Wallin as CEO of Specialty Broking while Steve Hearn is CEO of Reinsurance and Capital and Antony Erotocritou is CFO.
Commenting on the news, Masterton said he is excited to be welcoming almost 900 new colleagues to Ardonagh Specialty. He added that he and his team have known and admired many of their incoming colleagues for a long time and they welcome the opportunity ahead to “build a preferred home for talent and the number one choice for clients on a truly global scale.”
Hearn added: “I’m very much looking forward to the opportunity to lead Inver Re and grow Ardonagh’s Capital Solutions business. With the scale and backing of the group and its investment in data science, we have the opportunity to become a top five global reinsurance broker and provide a credible independent choice for clients.”
Meanwhile, Wallin emphasised that the businesses within Ardonagh Specialty are known for delivering high calibre solutions to blue-chip clients, and noted that the brands joining them through this deal are a strong addition to that offering and the wider group.
“The combined scale of our platform allows us to invest even deeper in our talent, our focus on technological development and our actuarial and analytical capabilities to benefit all our brands,” he said, “delivering a powerful combination of scale, placement expertise and a personal service, all in support for our clients.”
