The first three months of 2023 continued in a similar vein to 2022 as deal volumes continued at a similar rate, despite anticipations of a slowdown in market activity as the UK broking market becomes increasingly saturated.
Deals completing this quarter will, of course, be representative of many months of work behind the scenes, so this continuation of the 2022 trend should not be totally unexpected. But it would still not be a surprise if the level of M&A activity began to fall through Q2 and beyond.
GRP was one of the most active acquirers of the last three months, building up a head of steam following its acquisition by Brown & Brown last year.
The broking group made several regional acquisitions, including the likes of Newport-based retail broker BPW Insurance Services and Hertfordshire-based Christopher Trigg, which was already part of GRP’s Hedron Network.
GRP also added to its MGA business with the acquisition of Nucleus Underwriting, which specialises in life sciences, research and development and specialist manufacturing sectors.
Jensten Group and JMG Group have also started 2023 firmly on the acquisition trail, with both groups securing deals for commercial lines brokers during the first quarter.
Indeed, of all the deals that completed, the vast majority were for commercial lines businesses – a trend that has persisted in the market for some time now.
But even if the level of activity does begin to fade during the rest of the year, there will undoubtedly still be a steady flow of deals completing across the market.
This means that keeping your pulse on financial performance is vital – both for businesses looking to add to their stable of businesses, and those looking to exit the market.
That is why we are once again performing a deep dive into the broking world in our latest Broker Performance Report, the results of which will be revealed at the BIBA Conference this May (make sure to pick up your free copy of the report from stand F1).
We will also be speaking to industry luminaries live on our stand to get their take on the latest trends affecting the UK broking industry. A full timetable of the interviews will be released ahead of the conference.
Then, on 24 May we will be welcoming Ardonagh Advisory chief commercial officer Phil Bayles, Howden UK & Ireland executive chairman Peter Blanc and JMG Group CEO Nick Houghton to the panel of our next webinar, Navigating the UK Broking Landscape.
You can register for free to hear our panellists' thoughts on:
