MarshBerry Named M&A Advisor of the Year: Firm is recognized as best in the sector
Woodmere, OH, May 30, 2023 – MarshBerry, a leading investment banking and consulting firm serving the insurance distribution and wealth management industries, was recognized by The Insurer as the 2023 Program Manager M&A Advisor of the Year. The 2nd Annual Conference & Award ceremony was held in New York on Wednesday, May 17, 2023.
MarshBerry’s proprietary merger & acquisition (M&A) process is tailored to meet the unique needs and goals of each individual firm it represents. The firm has a dedicated Specialty Practice team led by Managing Directors Gerard Vecchio and George Bucur that have unparalleled expertise in the space. Over the last three years (2020-2022) the specialty practice has successfully represented 45 clients who partnered with strategic buyers, financial sponsors and others. The total potential valuation of these transactions exceeds $2.2 billion in enterprise value.
MarshBerry works with each of its specialty clients to ensure resource needs, operational standards, and cultural expectations align with that of a potential partner.1 By aligning these characteristics between buyer and seller, MarshBerry puts its client in the best position to maximize value and allow for the best opportunity to increase revenues into the foreseeable future.
“Specialty firms consolidated at a rate of over 4x compared to their retail counterparts in 2022” noted John Wepler, MarshBerry Chairman & CEO. “MarshBerry is uniquely qualified to help specialty clients in a position to maximize value and allow for the best opportunity to increase revenue into the foreseeable future.”
Looking forward, buyers appear poised for continued aggressive dealmaking in 2023 with specialty firms continuing to command premium valuations as brokers expand their business to include delegated authority and wholesale brokerage practices. This is evident with the recent Warburg Pincus’ acquisition of K2 Insurance Services (K2), a leading independent specialty insurance program manager. This transaction closed in April 2023 and supports K2’s growth strategy, which includes M&A and organic growth. MarshBerry served as the financial advisor to Warburg Pincus for this transaction.
“Serving our clients by taking the time to understand their unique goals, resource needs, and identifying cultural/operational commonalities of potential partners allows us to maximize shareholder value. This value add is what allows MarshBerry to be viewed by our clients as the preeminent investment banker for the insurance and financial services industries.” added Bucur. “To be recognized as M&A Advisor of the year is a reflection of the outcomes our clients experience from the strategic approach and advisory services we offer.”
MarshBerry remains the number one sell-side advisor for insurance agencies and brokerages and retains its position as the industry leader for total number of clients advised. Since 1999, MarshBerry has advised on more than 1,100 merger & acquisition transactions which is approximately 25% of the total announced transactions reported by S&P Global Market Intelligence that involved an advisor.
MarshBerry – Helping Clients Learn, Improve & Realize Value
Founded in 1981 and established a European footprint in 2019, MarshBerry serves the insurance distribution and wealth management industries including insurance agents & brokers, specialty distributors, private equity firms, and wealth management firms. MarshBerry’s industry-specific services help clients build, enhance and sustain value through: Merger & Acquisition Advisory, Debt & Equity Capital Raising, Financial Consulting, Market Intelligence & Benchmarking, Growth Advisory Consulting, Connect – Executive Peer Exchange, and FirstChoice – Aggregation. Learn more at www.MarshBerry.com.
1MarshBerry defines those agents/brokers that reside between carriers and retail brokers or who have delegated authority from their carrier partners as being “specialty firms.” This is an ambiguous term (like many others in the industry), however in most instances specialty firms relate to program managers, program administrators, managing general agents (MGAs), managing general underwriters (MGUs), etc.
Investment banking services offered through MarshBerry Capital, LLC, Member FINRA and SIPC, and an affiliate of Marsh, Berry & Co., LLC.
