EQT bets on long-term trends in insurance broking with McGill; Altor exits Flex IT to Eurazeo’s T1A
Good morning, Nina Lindholm here with the Europe Wire from the London newsroom.
Insurance brokerage has been a “natural place for investors to allocate,” Scott Bronner, head of credit at Stone Point, told PE Hub for our financial services Sector Spotlight earlier this year. On Friday, EQT agreed to acquire McGill and Partners, a specialty reinsurance broker, from Warburg Pincus in a $2 billion deal. We delve into the transaction and the sector to kick off the week.
To finish, we have an exit by Altor, as the firm has divested circular IT company Flex IT to Eurazeo, which is combining the business with an existing portco.
Peace of mind
Insurance brokerage is an area that has proven fertile ground for private equity over the last few years, even if the attraction has slightly waned, PE Hub’s Craig McGlashan wrote in our financial services Sector Spotlight earlier this year.
“Insurance brokerage, as a natural hedge to inflation and largely tied to non-discretionary spending in both the US and abroad, has been a natural place for investors to allocate,” Scott Bronner, head of credit at Stone Point, told PE Hub at the time. “It’s been one of, if not our most, successful end verticals. The trends for the long term are still attractive, though maybe not as attractive as they’ve been from an organic perspective over the last few years. But it’s still a very attractive end vertical and one that we remain active in across credit and private equity.”
For some firms, that organic perspective is exactly what is drawing them to the sector. On Friday, EQT agreed to acquire a majority stake in McGill and Partners, an independent specialty reinsurance broker headquartered in London, from Warburg Pincus for $2 billion.
EQT plans to back the firm’s organic growth strategy, including recruiting further specialty broking talent, expanding technology and data capabilities and growing its digital offerings, according to a press statement.
McGill was founded in May 2019 by CEO Steve McGill, alongside John Lloyd, Stephen Cross and Karl Hennessy, with backing from Warburg Pincus. McGill will continue to lead the firm, while Lloyd, now chairman, remains actively involved. Both will retain significant shareholdings alongside colleagues, who are also reinvesting as part of the deal under the firm’s all-employee ownership structure.
In the seven years since its founding, McGill has grown into a global specialty broking business with revenue exceeding $250 million, more than 600 colleagues across seven countries, and more than 1,000 insurance and reinsurance clients.
“McGill and Partners has established a strong position in specialty insurance broking underpinned by impressive organic growth,” said Matthias Wittkowski, global co-head of services and partner at EQT Private Equity, in a statement. He added that the team was looking to scale “what is clearly a differentiated platform, underpinned by exceptional talent, data, analytics and a custom built, singular technology platform.”
Other firms making moves in insurance broking include Inflexion. In May, it invested in the launch of Mittelstands-Assekuranz-Partner (MAP), a new German multi-specialist insurance broker, with Cremer Assekuranz joining as its first strategic partner. The firm’s other investments in the segment include DR&P and Ascend Broking Group.
Substantial value
Moving away from insurance to finish. Altor has divested Flex IT, a circular IT business, to Eurazeo, which is combining the company with its existing portfolio business T1A Group to form a circular IT platform with combined revenues of about €150 million.
Flex IT delivers services built around circular economy principles, spanning distribution, rent and demo services, buy back, refurbishment and IT asset disposition. It serves about 13,000 customers, including retailers, SME resellers, value-added resellers, corporates and public organizations, from offices in eight European countries, with ITAD and refurbishment capacity in Leiden, the Netherlands, and Toruń, Poland. The company generated revenue of about €120 million in 2025.
Angelo Bul, chief executive of Flex IT, will lead the combined group following completion of the combination with T1A Group.
“This transaction marks an important milestone as it concludes Altor’s successful original investment in Infotheek,” said Jens Browaldh, partner at Altor, in a statement. “The divestments of Centralpoint in 2021 and now Flex IT in 2026 to strong strategic buyers have unlocked substantial strategic value.”
Eurazeo acquired a majority stake in T1A in May.
That’s all from me this morning. Reminder, there will be no US Wire today due to the Labor Day holiday. Craig McGlashan will be on Europe Wire duty tomorrow.
Cheers,
Nina
