Everyone in the City of London knows the old saw “Sell in May and go away.” It is applied of course to the stock market, where trading volumes were historically lower during the summer months as people disappeared on holiday, but this year it appears to have been heeded by the private owners of UK brokers and managing general agents (MGAs). In June there were only four new announced insurance distribution merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions, making it the quietest month for deals so far in 2026. H1 2026 ended with only 41 sector deals having been announced, which is the slowest first half for a year since 2017.
M&A Market Update
The four new deals in June were the lowest monthly total of 2026, and one less than in June 2025. June has statistically been the quietest month of the year over the past decade, averaging only 7.5 deals over a ten-year period, vs. 9.4 deals across all months over the same period. On a year-to-date (YTD) basis there have been only 41 announced transactions in 2026 and, as the UK doesn’t typically see much seasonality in M&A volumes (unlike some other markets where deal announcements tend to increase near the end of the calendar year), the YTD numbers are squarely pointing towards a second successive full year total of fewer than 100 transactions. As noted before, a combination of supply and demand side factors are sitting behind this reduced level of activity, in a soft market where increased uncertainty has been suppressing deal volumes for around 18 months now.
On the supply side, one factor that might lead to an uptick in M&A volumes in 2026 is the imminent installation of (yet another) new Prime Minister. Andy Burnham and several of his key allies have in the past expressed a wish to see the rate of capital gains tax (CGT) more closely aligned with income tax. Although the main rate of CGT has increased relatively recently (October 2024), the spectre of another hike is clearly now back on the agenda. When and by how much this could change under a Burnham-led government is not clear, but it is not impossible that a new Chancellor (assuming Rachel Reeves leaves No. 11) could announce and implement an increase as soon as the Autumn Budget.
For the owners of privately held businesses, this could be a very material difference in the net proceeds they achieve from a sale. Speculation around CGT changes has previously acted as a catalyst for sector M&A, with deal volumes spiking ahead of possible announcement dates. The problem for sellers is that the Autumn Budget will happen in less than five months’ time. Not an impossible timeframe in which to execute and complete a business sale, but – certainly from a standing start – a very challenging one. The second half of the “Sell in May” adage is of course “come back on St. Leger’s Day.” As any racing fan will know, this year that is 12th September. If, as expected, the risk of a tax increase encourages some vendors to bring forward a sale of their business, then September and October may see an increase in deal volumes.
Private equity sellers (and a new buyer) in June
Despite there only being four announced deals in June, two of them involved private equity (PE) exits. There were only five PE exits in the whole of 2025, a figure that is likely to be exceeded this year. This does not come as a surprise, given the length of time a number of PE investments in the sector have been held by their respective sponsors. There is no set holding period for PE and on a global basis the all-sector average holding period has been increasing, to c.6.5 years currently (which is marginally longer than the average hold across the c.35 direct sponsor investments in UK insurance distribution sector).
It is not unusual for sponsors to exit very successful investments quite quickly. Conversely, more ‘challenging’ investments can often be held for longer, in order to achieve target returns on a money-on-money basis (which, unlike IRR, or internal rate of return, does not factor in time). During the month, Carbon Underwriting, which was first backed by Apiary Capital in 2023, announced that it had secured new backing from FTV Capital in a secondary PE deal. Separately, Mobeus Equity Partners announced that it had exited Assured Underwriting Group (AUG), the travel bonding MGA (which trades as Travel & General) it has owned since 2018, through a sale to ANV Group (the MGA platform that was recently spun out of AmTrust).
On a YTD basis PE capital has been behind 41% of all sector deals, which is below the long-term average. The majority of this is indirect, as PE-backed broking groups like JMG Group and Clear pursue bolt on M&A. In any given year there are around half a dozen ‘direct’ PE investments into the sector, and in a broadly balanced market there will be a similar number of exits.
The growing proportion of specialty businesses in sector M&A
Both Carbon and AUG are ‘specialty’ businesses (MGA and/or wholesale, including Lloyd’s brokers), and on a YTD basis, more than a quarter of all sector deals have involved a specialty target of a higher proportion than ever before (for context, in the U.S. market only 19% of deals in 2026 have involved a specialty target). This reflects both a continuing appetite for specialty businesses from a wide range of buyers (strategic and financial), but also their increased prevalence. New MGAs are being formed at a rapid rate and have been over a period of several years now. While sector consolidation has seen the number of commercial brokers decrease over the past decade (see also MarshBerry’s latest The State of UK Insurance Distribution report, available to download here), with new firms not being established and grown quickly enough to ‘replenish’ what is being bought, the more nascent MGA segment has continued to proliferate. Combined with the Lloyd’s broking sector, which continues to see high levels of M&A activity and interest from both domestic and overseas buyers, the specialty segment is expected to continue to account for a sizeable and increasing proportion of all sector M&A.
Notable transactions (June 2026):
- ANV Group, the Blackstone-backed MGA arm recently spun out of U.S. insurer AmTrust, announced the acquisition of Assured Underwriting Group, the travel bonding MGA that has been backed by Mobeus Equity Partners since 2018. AUG, which is best known through its Travel & General brand, is active in the UK and across several European markets.
- Fast-growing delegated authority underwriting specialist Carbon Underwriting, which first took on PE investment from Apiary Capital in 2023, announced that it had secured new growth capital from FTV Capital, a U.S. investment firm that is expected to be able to support the continued growth of Carbon in the U.S.
- The Broker Investment Group announced two new commercial broking deals, the first via TBIG-backed Needham Insurance Services, which acquired Hinckley Insurance Services in Leicestershire, and the second through an increase in its longstanding shareholding in Scott Blain Insurance Consultants, a £9m GWP broker in Barnet. TBIG has been a minority investor since 2015 and has now increased this to a majority position.
