Acrisure raises $3.4bn to pursue strategic initiatives

Expansive insurance and reinsurance broking group Acrisure has successfully raised over $3.4 billion in two transactions, with the “aligned capital” expected to help it pursue strategic initiatives, including doubling-down on its technology-led value proposition.

Acrisure was formed out of retail insurance agency networks, but then in 2018 acquired Beach & Associates, a specialist insurance and reinsurance broker which often arranges trades with collateralized and ILS fund markets.

Beach’s operations were then fully integrated into Acrisure and rebranded last year as reinsurance specialist Acrisure Re and Acrisure London Wholesale.

Now, Acrisure is looking to build on the success of its growing broking platform and propel itself up the leaderboard of the top 10 global insurance and reinsurance broking groups.

Merchant bank BDT Capital Partners has led a $3 billion investment into Acrisure’s Senior Preferred Stock and Acrisure noted that the investment “aligned the capital structure” to support its long-term objectives, so it can continue on its trajectory of growth

Alongside this, a consortium of investors, which Acrisure says were attracted by its tech-enabled vision for broking and recent acquisition of artificial intelligence company Tulco’s insurance business, has invested another $454 million of new capital in Junior Preferred Stock.

“These transactions are a clear reflection of how the market is valuing both the strength of our existing insurance brokerage business and, importantly, our vision for accelerating our technology initiatives going forward,” explained Greg Williams, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Acrisure. “These investments enable us to pursue strategic initiatives with aligned capital that will provide greater value for all shareholders.”

As well as integrating Beach and launching its own reinsurance and wholesale insurance brokerage brands, Acrisure has also acquired another 110 agencies in 2020, while also reducing its net debt leverage, all despite the impacts of the global pandemic.

“Acrisure is an innovative leader in an attractive industry with a very strong management team led by Co-Founder Greg Williams,” Byron Trott, Founder, Chairman and CEO of BDT Capital Partners said. “We look forward to a long-term partnership with Greg and his team, consistent with our business model of providing patient capital to founder and family-led businesses, while leveraging our network of closely held business owners and investors to support the company’s growth and expansion.”

Acrisure says it is creating the “next-generation distribution model” for insurance and reinsurance, putting its financial strength, expertise and what it believes to be one of the largest data sets of any insurance broker, alongside state-of-the-art technology and an entrepreneurial approach.

Insurance and reinsurance broking needs disruptors at this time and clients need choice as well, so with this capital set to help Acrisure grow, it will provide another option for those needing a broker to transact in risk transfer.

“Based on our data, AI foundation, and global distribution capabilities, we will accelerate our growth in the insurance brokerage industry and into adjacent opportunities,” Williams said.