According to research from MarshBerry, the first half of 2024 saw 71 announced insurance distribution M&A transaction deals in the UK, involving 37 unique buyers. This was slightly down on the previous year in which there were 75 deals during the same period. The deals involving personal lines businesses in H1 jumped to almost a quarter, up on a longer-term average of less than 15%.

John Nisbet, managing director of MarshBerry’s UK office, said: “The proportion of deals involving PE and PE-backed buyers was at a multi-year low. Year-to-date in June it stood at 39%, a substantial reduction from the approximately 70% of all deals in 2020 and 2021. However, there have already been four direct PE transactions (as opposed to involving a PE-backed acquirer) in the sector in 2024, twice as many as in the whole of 2023.”

He added: “Another interesting feature of 2024 has been the unusually high number of deals involving personal lines businesses. Almost a quarter of all deals in 2024 so far have involved a personal lines target, compared to a longer-term average of less than 15% of all sector deals. There have been 17 personal lines deals so far in 2024, the same as the total number announced during all of 2023. Is this a statistical blip, or has the notoriously difficult segment finally found favour among consolidators and investors?”