With folks heading into the long-weekend and the recent news of Aon acquiring USI (KKR-backed) for $17 billion, I thought it’d be a great time to re-publish the article on PE’s rollup of insurance brokers. This piece was first published when RTC had ~900 readers, so it should be a fresh read for many of you!
Job Board. We have an opportunity from the network I wanted to blast to the network (plus, one for Road To Carry):
1/ VP Corporate Development, The Freeman Company. Former CFO of Topgolf (one of my portfolio companies at Providence!) is hiring a VP of Corp Dev to lead M&A and partnerships for The Freeman Company, a leading brand experience and events marketing company in charge of some of the world’s largest events like Shoptalk, NATO Summit, and Workday/Goolge Cloud/ServiceNow events.
Here is the JD. Please reach out with your resume if you’re interested.
2/ Road To Carry is hiring a Head of Community (And yes, we’re working on launching an application-only membership community for GPs and LPs for the independent sponsor and holdco ecosystem (with amazing support from experienced GPs and LPs in the network). Stay tuned.)
Do you know anyone who:
- Enjoys and is good at curating and executing in-person events
- Has PE / finance knowledge and is excited to help continue build an incredible network of GPs and LPs
- Loves flexibility / remote work and enjoys building in the early stage?
Here is the JD. Please share with your network and any referrals would be greatly appreciated!
PE Playbook: Insurance Brokers
State of Play
For the past two decades, insurance brokerage has been one of private equity’s favorite playgrounds. The space checks all the boxes: fragmented, capital-light, recession-resistant, and built on recurring commissions.
And 2024 wrapped up with a high note for private equity investors. In December 2024, GTCR successfully sold their investment in AssuredPartners to Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG), a publicly traded insurance broker, for a whopping $13.5 billion.
Let’s break down the broker model, what makes the sector so attractive to PE, and how the AssuredPartners case study illustrates the broader playbook.