Insurance DataLab’s analysis of M&A activity reveals the first half of 2025 saw 37 deals reported across the UKGI marketplace, a significant reduction on the 68 deals in H1 2024. This means the start to 2025 has been the slowest first-half of a year since 2021.
Over the past five years, the market has seen notable swings – from just 34 deals in H1 2021 to a peak of 68 last year before this year’s slowdown. The 45.6% year-on-year decline in 2025 comes after a strong post-pandemic rebound and subsequent two-year run of elevated activity.
This significant slowdown across the first six months of 2025 comes after a flurry of consolidation in the mid-market, that has led to a shortage of attractive acquisition targets in that middle layer.
Many of the established consolidators – as well as their emerging peers – have subsequently started to look overseas at Ireland and Continental Europe, as well as at niche players that bring experience and specialisms but without the scale that has been a factor in so many of the deals seen in recent years.
Indeed, Howden Group global head of M&A Peter Blanc told Dan King as part of our IDL in 10 Series of interviews at this year’s BIBA Conference that such specialists also offer fantastic growth potential.
“We always prefer specialisms generally, just purely because, in our experience, specialist brokers grow roughly twice as fast as generalists,” he said.
Regional picture: Midlands out in front as South East slows
While London and the South East have long been among the most active regions for M&A, the first half of 2025 has brought a marked slowdown in both. London fell from 14 deals in H1 2024 to just three this year, while the South East dropped from 16 to five.
Together, that’s a combined total of 8 deals – less than a third of last year’s tally.
In contrast, the Midlands matched its 2024 total of 6 deals, making it the busiest single region in H1 2025, while most other regions maintained modest but meaningful levels of activity with some experiencing a small uptick in activity.
As a result, nearly seven in ten deals are now happening outside London and the South East – a sharp rise from H1 2024 when less than half of deals were completed outside of this traditional heartland – providing further evidence of a shift towards specialist and niche outfits, and away from the historic focus on headline GWP growth.
Unsurprisingly, it is the big names that remain the most active, with Brown and Brown leading the way with four deals over the first half of 2025, while Howden reported three. A number of other firms also completed multiple deals over the first half of the year, with Ardonagh, Clear Group, Gallagher and PIB all reporting two deals.
What this means for H2
With pricing expectations still normalising and debt costs stabilising, we’d expect selective momentum into H2 rather than a wholesale rebound. The busiest consolidators are likely to remain active, focusing on niche capabilities, regional expansion, and cultural fit.
For sellers, it is all about understanding market positioning and how to make the most of strengths and unique propositions.
Having visibility of how peers are performing, identifying likely buyers and sellers, and spotting market trends can also help shape a more compelling proposition and smooth the due diligence process.
Against this backdrop, having the right intelligence is critical.
Insurance DataLab’s insights give firms the context they need to help understand these trends and market dynamics. For more on how our tailored benchmarking reports and insight platform can help to identify opportunities and support M&A activity, contact Tariq Kench.