By Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro and Amy-Jo Crowley
LONDON (Reuters) - Apax Partners is weighing options, including a sale, for its British insurance broker PIB Group, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The London-based private equity firm is expected to appoint a financial adviser to gauge buyer interest in the business later this year, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
PIB Group could be valued at more than 4 billion pounds in the event of a sale, based on annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of around 250 million pounds ($315.7 million) that it is on track to generate, one of the people said.
Apax declined to comment. PIB Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Private equity firms have been paying elevated prices for insurance brokers, attracted by their predictable cash flows and ability to grow via acquisitions.
Buyout group KKR bought French insurance broker April Group in 2022 from CVC for 2.3 billion euros, Bloomberg reported, while Permira last year agreed to acquire GGW for an undisclosed sum from Hg.
Apax bought PIB Group, which specialises in commercial lines and non-standard personal lines products, from Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) in 2021. Carlyle and management remain minority investors. It declined to comment on the sale plans.
PIB has embarked on an M&A spree under Apax’s ownership buying Spanish insurance brokers AVC, Grupo IDDEAS and JSC earlier this year. The firm’s revenue jumped by 49% to 345 million pounds in 2022, while EBITDA grew by 36% to 91 million pounds, according to its most recent annual report.
($1 = 0.7919 pounds)