Still waiting for the Covid Recovery
In the eleven quarters to have elapsed since the beginning of 2019 it will come as no surprise that the UK saw the lowest level of deals during the quarter in which Covid first really hit the country. Even taking account of the mini M&A “boom” that occurred in Q1 of this year, driven largely by a fear that the Chancellor would raise Capital Gains Tax in March, post Covid levels of M&A are still some 20% lower than pre-Covid levels. Whilst Q3 this year was up on Q2, it is still too early to call a return to pre Covid levels of M&A activity.
Looking on a sector-by-sector basis, M&A activity in the Investment sector has remained remarkably consistent. Q2 2020 activity was only 17% lower than the average of the preceding five quarters, and the M&A “boom” in Q1 2021 was only 20% above the pre Covid level of activity.
Contrast that with the Insurance sector. Q2 2020 saw M&A almost grind to a complete standstill. The threat of increased Capital Gains Tax saw many insurance brokers rush for the door in Q1 2021, with the 41 transactions in the period being almost three times the average quarterly number since the beginning of 2019.
We have seen the volume of Lending sector M&A deals fall away sharply in recent quarters. The reasons for this are not readily apparent, but it is worth noting that there is significant and heightened regulatory risk around some segments of the personal lending sector, principally around interest rate capping. In the commercial segment, the Government’s recent interventions to support companies through e.g. CBILs, will have been hugely disruptive for the sector. Such uncertainty is rarely supportive of a buoyant market for M&A.
If you want to keep ahead rather than behind a trend, we would be delighted to meet and explore how we can assist you in furthering your value creation goals.
Insurance
September finished what has been a relatively muted summer and indeed quarter for UK Insurance M&A, with only eight new transactions being announced.
In broking, Butterworth Spengler, part of the Synova-backed consolidator JM Glendinning Insurance Brokers, announced that it had supported a management buyout of Brunsdon Insurance Brokers in Gloucester, PIB Group announced the acquisition of JRT Insurance Brokers, an independent commercial broker headquartered in Nottingham, serial acquirer Aston Lark announced the acquisition of S. Johnson & Co. a commercial broker in Birmingham with particular specialisms in the music industry and the gun trade, and Ardonagh-owned Ethos Broking added a new ‘hub’ business in Yorkshire with the acquisition of Leeds-based Schofield Insurance Brokers.
In underwriting, legal indemnity specialist Guaranteed Conveyancing Solutions (trading as GCS Title Insurance) was sold to First Title, part of the US-based First American Corporation, and leading Professional Indemnity specialist Manchester Underwriting Management was acquired by Arthur J. Gallagher, where the MGA will become part of the latter’s Pen Underwriting division.
In a major transaction in Insurance Services, BC Partners-backed Davies Group announced that it had acquired Asta Capital, the third party managing agency known for its development of the Lloyd’s Syndicate-in-a-box (SIAB) framework.
Finally, tech-led property insurance provider Avantia, better known as HomeProtect, announced that its PE sponsor ECI Partners, whose ECI Fund 9 had backed the MBO of the business in 2014, had sold the business to … wait for it … ECI Fund 11, its latest buyout fund.
Investment
Wealth management continues to be an area of very high levels of M&A activity with well over £4.6bn worth of deals in the last quarter, the highest in three years. This was largely accounted for by the fast-growing group True Potential announcing the sale of a majority stake to private equity firm Cinven in a deal that could be valued up to £2.5bn.
Sanlam UK agreed to sell its wealth management business to Oaktree Capital Management for £140m. This follows an earlier announcement that the South African financial services group was divesting its life insurance book to Chesnara for £39m. Both transactions will simplify Sanlam’s operations in the UK and free up capital for its expansion plans in Africa and India.
The investment management sector saw Gresham House buying the venture capital trust business of Mobeus Equity Partners for £36.1m and the UK multi-family office, Alvarium Investments, merging with US advice firm Tiedemann Advisors. Goldman Sachs’ private equity investment business Petershill Partners achieved a £4bn valuation via an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange raising £1.2bn.
In the IFA sector, Independent Wealth Planners bought Southampton-based Encompass Financial Management, adding £165m in AUA and 458 clients. Saltus Group acquired Farnham-based Fish Financial as part of its long-term growth strategy to expand its financial planning arm, bringing £300m of client assets. South African wealth manager Alpha Wealth bought a majority stake in London-based advice firm Holborn Financial, adding c.£150m in client assets. National advice group Socium, backed by private equity firm Penta Capital, completed a string of acquisitions having acquired financial planning firms True Bearing, Scrutton Bland Financial Services and Wealth Solutions.
Elsewhere in the sector, pensions consultancy Isio agreed to acquire Premier Pensions for an undisclosed sum and corporate broker Peel Hunt raised £112m in its initial public offering debut on the AIM segment of the London Stock Exchange.
Lending
City of London Group announced the sale of Milton Homes to Max Barney Investments for £9.3m and separately announced the completion of its previously announced capital raising to meet the capital requirements for the PRA to remove deposit restrictions from its subsidiary Recognise Bank.
In the development finance market, funds advised by Avenue Capital Group completed the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Zorin Finance from Alternative Credit Investments and Sir John Beckwith and family.
In the fintech market, Koyo raised £36m in a mixture of debt and equity capital as part of its Series A fundraise in order to fund its growth plans in the near-prime consumer credit market. The equity round was led by Force Over Mass with participation from existing investors Forward Partners, Frontline Ventures and Seedcamp. SME lending broker Capitalise raised £10m from Experian, QED Investors, Gauss Ventures, Hambro Perks and Post Finance.
Elsewhere, Arbuthnot Banking Group announced in two separate transactions the further sell-down of its shareholding in Secure Trust Bank, raising gross proceeds of c. £5.0m and resulting in a residual shareholding of c. 2.14 per cent.
*IMAS Corporate Finance LLP has been acquired by MarshBerry.
