Howden Group Holdings has today revealed that it has successfully raised over £875 million across both debt and equity – with total cash and facilities available for investment in M&A, new initiatives and talent in excess of £1 billion.
In a Press release, Howden announced that it finalised a $500 million seven-year loan on March 24, 2023, with over 60 lenders providing capital. Among those were more than 10 new lenders to the group. In addition, the business increased its revolving credit facility from £185 million to £360 million across an array of banking relationships.
Following the announcement of pro-forma results for 2022 of in excess of £2 billion in revenue – achieved through both strong organic growth (19% in FY22, 19% in FY21) and M&A, among other growth initiatives – the new investment heralds the start of the next phase of Howden’s development.
With M&A and investment in talent remaining at the core of the group’s growth strategy, Peter Blanc, executive chairman of Howden UK&I, will now take on a new role as head of M&A. Blanc’s new position which takes place with immediate effect, will see him report to David Howden, CEO of Howden Group, and support David Howden and the leadership team to deliver the group’s strategy.
Commenting on the news, David Howden emphasised that with the £2 billion revenue milestone passed and with 14,500 employees across 50 countries and $30 billion of GWP, Howden has the “scale and leverage to be the difference that clients and talent are seeking”.
“And now,” he said, “following the £5 billion we have invested over the last three years, we have raised a further £1 billion giving us the financial firepower to accelerate at pace by joining with the best businesses and brightest talent who are looking for a forever home where they can continue to deliver their expertise and service in a culture that cherishes entrepreneurial spirit.”
He added that Howden’s focus is now on three key areas – harnessing the group’s collective power, attracting talent and aligned businesses, and investing in its infrastructure.
“It is Peter who, in bringing Aston Lark to Howden, coined the phrase ‘forever home’,” Howden said. “Having built Aston Lark from the ground up through his well-recognised ability to identify and execute high quality transactions with a deep-rooted cultural alignment he is obviously very well-placed to support me and our leadership teams in the further development of our very healthy M&A pipeline as we begin the next chapter of our development.
“With our leading position in the UK now established, we will continue to focus heavily on our European reach as well as developing our wider global footprint with acquisitions of high quality businesses where we can bring choice to clients.
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