Insurance Brokers
Insurance Brokers Advisory
ACCELERATING SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIC JOURNEYS
The European insurance brokers landscape is highly fragmented. Thousands of players include global brokerage brands, large consolidators, and a significant number of small and medium firms. Operating in fields ranging from private and commercial lines to specialty insurance, they all share a drive to offer the best possible services to their clients and grow their business.
The combination of this diverse mix of businesses and forces like digitisation, changing regulations and consolidation, offers fascinating opportunities as well as challenges. MarshBerry advisors help you navigate these market complexities and achieve your long-term goals.
Clients benefit from MarshBerry’s ability to harness in-depth market intelligence, deep knowledge and experience of the European insurance distribution space, and access to capital providers to accelerate your strategic journey. Whether your strategy involves buying, selling or organic growth, MarshBerry is with you every step of the way, guiding you through all the stages of ownership.
The MarshBerry team helps you:
- Navigate M&A processes, managing transactions through to successful completion, including post-deal support
- Raise debt and equity capital to finance acquisitions and buy-outs
- Explore organic growth strategies and drive decision-making with strategic planning, market intelligence and peer-to-peer exchange
MarshBerry has expertise in advising:
- Property & casualty insurance brokers & agencies
- Specialty brokers
- Managing general agents (MGAs)
- Wholesale brokers
- Insurtech
- Capacity providers
- Service providers
- Employee benefits advisory firms
- Broker consortia
- Online aggregators
Contact The Advisory Team
As Managing Director of MarshBerry’s UK office, Olly spearheads efforts to help clients prepare, market and execute transactions by utilizing data rich insights and market perspectives to help them build, enhance and sustain value.
Olly founded IMAS Corporate Finance LLP in 1992 and was responsible for the development of IMAS-insight, IMAS’S central knowledge-based system. He was involved in the majority of IMAS’ transactions and is highly experienced in what makes for a successful transaction and making it happen.
Prior to his roles at MarshBerry and IMAS, he worked for Cazenove and Kleinwort Benson. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Anderson and has a degree in Economics from Exeter University.
Olly takes pride in building long-lasting relationships with decision-makers across the financial services sector based on his knowledge and insights.
As Managing Director of MarshBerry’s UK office, Fred specalises in advising businesses in the wealth and asset management sectors and related areas. He has extensive experience of domestic and international merger & acquisitions (M&A) and capital markets transactions, having focused on corporate finance throughout his career.
Fred was a Partner at IMAS Corporate Finance LLP before it was acquired by MarshBerry and, prior to joining IMAS, he worked briefly for Singer & Friedlander and spent most of his career at JPMorgan Cazenove and Handelsbanken Investment Banking.
Fred trained as an accountant with Touche Ross and holds a BA with honours degree in Economics from Durham University.
As Managing Director of MarshBerry’s UK office, John brings a wealth of corporate finance experience in financial services and, in particular, UK insurance.
John has extensive advisory experience and has advised on multiple transactions covering both public and private M&A as well as IPOs. He particularly specialises in the insurance and has completed multiple deals in the UK, as well as several other European markets. He has extensive experience acting for carriers, including RSA, MS Amlin and Hiscox. In recent years he has focused mainly on insurance distribution, advising the sellers of a wide range of broking businesses and MGAs. He is the author of the IMAS (now MarshBerry) annual UK Insurance Distribution M&A Annual Review.
Prior to joining MarshBerry, John was a Partner at IMAS Corporate Finance LLP. In addition, he spent more than ten years at N M Rothschild & Sons in its London-based financial services group. John began his career at Ernst & Young and is a Chartered Accountant.
John has an MA in History from the University of Glasgow and a MSc in Finance from the University of Aberdeen.
Michel Schaft joined MarshBerry in 2017 as an Independent Consultant and is currently Managing Director of MarshBerry.