As the weather warmed up in June, there was unfortunately no corresponding sizzle in UK insurance distribution mergers and acquisitions (M&A), with another slow month for deal activity concluding the slowest half year for sector M&A since H1 2019. On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, sector deal volumes are down 35% on the same point in 2024. Notwithstanding the very large transactions being done in the U.S. that have had knock-on implications for UK broking (e.g., Gallagher’s acquisition of AssuredPartners), the pace of domestic consolidation has markedly slowed. Coupled with the prevailing soft market conditions across most classes of business, delivering the levels of topline UK growth seen in recent years in 2025 is likely to be increasingly challenging for many groups.
M&A Market Update
With only five new transactions announced in June, sector deal activity continues to run well below the volumes seen in 2023 or 2024. In only one month (April) in 2025 so far has the number of announced deals reached double figures. Compare this to the average monthly deal count from 2020 to 2024 at 11.1. We have become accustomed to seeing serial acquirers making large numbers of acquisitions in the UK, and in 2024 nine separate acquirers did five or more deals, with JMG Group alone announcing 16 broking acquisitions. But the 49 deals done in H1 2025 have involved 37 different acquirers. No single buyer has so far announced more than three deals in 2025.
Total Volume of Announced UK Insurance Distribution M&A, Annual
Could this be the new normal?
There have been a number of high-profile large (>£100 million) transactions in 2025, but only three deals have involved a target employing more than 100 staff, and all three of those deals were private equity (PE) investments or refinancing (i.e., not actual industry consolidation). However one looks at the statistics, and in spite of rumoured large transactions that may happen later in the year (and some bold public statements being made recently by enthusiastic buyers about their deal pipelines and prospects) the story of H1 2025 is of a less frenzied pace of M&A activity.
This may be a temporary dip, but more likely a new normal. Creating lasting value from a domestic consolidation strategy has become more difficult. A buy-and-build strategy in UK broking has never been a slam dunk, despite what some PE firms that entered the sector may have thought. Several buyers are still dealing with indigestion and, as deal multiples in some of the largest sector deals have moderated, the ability to create value from multiple arbitrage (aka “buy low, sell high”) has reduced. There is an increased recognition that a measured and discerning approach to deals, with a focus on fit and integration, is the most reliable way to create lasting value.
So, if M&A driven growth in the UK is becoming more difficult, brokers need to focus more on organic growth, right? Well, there too lie difficulties, but also opportunities. The prevailing soft market has been felt acutely by brokers and MGAs in H1 2025. Lower premiums are reducing commission income. Old hands and cool heads in the industry – the people actually running most broking businesses – have of course seen all of this before. And many realise that for a business with a good sales culture and strong service proposition, it can be a good time to attack the competition, win new clients and drive growth through new business. Conversely, for many PE firms and professionals invested in the sector this is a new experience. They haven’t been through a soft market before. Falling rates were probably not built into the forecasts and assumptions that underpinned their investments. Or their borrowing assumptions. As they tweak their spreadsheets and insist that they had really, honestly, always envisaged a relatively longer hold period than usual for their investment, the management teams they have backed are having to patiently explain that this is a natural phenomenon. Don’t panic!
Private Equity-Backed Transactions as % of Total, Announced UK Transactions
Year-to-date 41% of announced UK deals have involved PE, below the long-term average and again reflecting that many of the dedicated consolidators have (so far) been quieter in 2025. MarshBerry expects this to shift in H2 2025, as several PE-backed firms are currently at advanced stages on multiple, mainly smaller, deals that will likely be announced in the coming weeks and months. Watch this space.
Specialty targets gaining ground
In terms of the types of businesses being sold, in H1 2025 just under a quarter of all UK deals involved a specialty target (MGAs or wholesalers, including Lloyd’s Brokers). This is the highest proportion for several years, reflecting the continuing proliferation of – and interest in – MGAs, which are forming and typically growing at a faster rate than commercial broking businesses (which still form the majority of all UK insurance distribution firms employing 10 or more staff). The increasingly dynamic MGA segment in the UK and, indeed, Europe more widely is expected to see continued M&A activity through 2025, involving both domestic and overseas buyers, with a number of sizeable targets currently being marketed for sale.
Targets in UK M&A: Retail vs. Specialty Distributors, % of Announced UK Transactions
Notable transactions (June 2025):
- In a rare example of a PE-backed broker selling a business it acquired only relatively recently and while under the same ownership, it was announced that LDC-backed Lucida Group, the owner of, inter alia, Right Choice Insurance Brokers, divested Moorhouse Group, a broker focused on the SME sector and well known for its Constructaquote.com brand. The business has been acquired by Atec Group, the owner of Ceta, in its first deal since securing backing from PE firm Perwyn in 2024.
- As part of a planned disposal of its non-MGA subsidiaries, Freedom Services Group, the car and van specialist behind Pukka, sold its broking arm Freedom Brokers to One Sure Insurance in Stoke.
- In a transaction that actually completed in May (and so included in our YTD figures) but MarshBerry only became aware of during June, Howden divested ES Risks, a Lloyd’s broker it acquired when it purchased Aston Lark in 2023, to ESR Hold Co, a vehicle controlled by Chris Hobbs, the founder of the business.
Other transactions (June 2025):
- Clear Group announced its second UK acquisition in as many months with the addition of C.R. Toogood & Co., a commercial broker in Surrey.
- Howden announced the acquisition of Granular Investments, including its EU-based sister company Granular Investments EU SAS, a synthetic securitisation specialist, to expand its credit risk transfer / credit risk solutions offering in Europe.
- Dickson Group in Northern Ireland announced that it had acquired DTM Insurance Brokers, increasing the size of the group to more than 150 staff across 15 offices.
