Posted on Dec 11, 2019 2020 at 13:17Updated 11 Dec. 2020 at 13:37
The teeming world of insurance brokerage continues to evolve. At a time when the consolidation of the major corporate insurance brokers is accelerating on the French market, with ongoing discussions between Siaci Saint Honoré and his rival Diot, specialist players are whetting the appetite for funds. Latest example to date: the French health insurance specialist Santiane announced Thursday evening its passage from the hands of the French private equity fund Blackfin Capital Partners to those of its counterpart Latour Capital and sees its management strengthen its capital.
With this new partner, the company created in 2007, which would be worth nearly 200 million euros , wishes to increase its turnover from more than 70 million to 100 million euros by 2023. The company of Nice origin has developed a lot in recent years around the design of insurance contracts in profit from local brokers.
External investments in perspective
Led under the Néoliane banner, this wholesale brokerage activity represents around two-thirds of its turnover. In the future, Santiane intends to establish itself in this way beyond individual health insurance on the provident and borrower insurance markets. Ready to make “External investments”, it also intends to strengthen its original business, complementary health but also provident and funeral insurance for individuals.
Although heckled by cascading regulations – with the generalization of complementary in business or zero “out-of-pocket” – the individual health insurance market weighing around 20 billion euros in premiums is growing slightly and seeing in particular bank-insurers nibbling market share at mutuals. “It is a market with very solid fundamentals, driven by the aging of the population and therefore the coverage needs of seniors as well as by the increase in the cost of care”, explains Pierre-Alain de Malleray, president of the Santiane group.
Relatively expensive and complicated contracts
In order to develop in this competitive market, intermediaries can count on the new rules for terminating supplementary insurance. SPVIE Assurances, another wholesale broker, has just acquired two market players (Assurances de l’Adour and CGRM).
In addition to the interest aroused by health insurance, these operations illustrate the marked taste of funds for insurance brokerage. “The financialization of the market has accelerated its consolidation and, in fact, the number of transactions, explains Guillaume Eymar, investment banker at Cambon Partners. With the exception of large family groups, the main French brokers are now all supported by investment funds ”.
Brokers have an interest in having a critical size to meet the very stringent regulatory requirements of insurers, and while the investment needs in technology are pressing. The funds, for their part, were attracted by an activity with recurring income and rather resistant to crises.
Verlingue expands internationally
In the heavy-duty category, the British CVC took control of the wholesale broker April last year while the loan insurance specialist, CBP (Financial CEP) passed from the hands of JC Flowers to those of BridgePoint. On a smaller scale, SPVIE Assurances has become part of Essling Capital and the “multispecialist” Finaxy has passed into the fold of Ardian.
In this landscape dominated by the large listed American groups Aon and Willis Towers Watson in the midst of marriage, there are few independent and family brokers even if they have not said their last word. As evidenced by the announcement Thursday by the Breton Verlingue of an acquisition in Portugal, the fifth international operation in five years.
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