B.P. Marsh & Partners Plc (AIM: BPM), the niche venture capital provider to early stage financial services businesses, is pleased to announce that it has acquired a further 6.87% in Nexus Underwriting Management Limited (“Nexus”), an independent specialty Managing General Agency (“MGA”), for a total consideration of £4.0m.
B.P. Marsh has acquired 219,178 A Ordinary shares of Nexus, from Colin Thompson and Ian Whistondale, two of the founding shareholders. This acquisition takes B.P. Marsh’s shareholding in Nexus to 18.8%.
B.P. Marsh made an initial investment into Nexus in August 2014, acquiring 5%, and since then has acquired additional interests by means of successive follow-on investments in June 2015 and December 2015. Since B.P. Marsh’s original investment, Nexus has grown from premium income of £60m in 2014 to in excess of £120m (forecast) in 2016. In regard to Commission Income, this has grown from £13m in 2014 to a forecast of £20m in 2016.
Nexus is one of the largest independent specialty MGAs in the London Market. It operates across a number of specialist insurance sectors, including Financial Lines, Trade Credit & Political Risk, Surety, Bond, Marine, Accident & Health and various other niche areas of insurance, where its expert skills come to the fore.
Dan Topping, the Company’s Chief Investment Officer and nominee director on the Board of Nexus, stated “We are very pleased to take this further stake in Nexus. We consider the business to be capable of strong and sustainable growth over the coming years and look forward to continuing to work with the Management Team to achieve this. A partnership with B.P. Marsh not only brings capital, but also the expertise and support of our people and the opportunities delivered by our network, and we believe this has been demonstrated by Nexus’s development during the two years of our investment.”
Colin Thompson, the Chairman of Nexus, stated “This transaction provides an opportunity to rebalance our shareholder base, which is crucial for us as we move forward. It is also indicative of the demand that exists for investment in Nexus, especially as our EBITDA for 2016 will surpass £5m and is planned to exceed £7m next year. In addition, we have a number of exciting M & A opportunities which we hope to conclude on during Q1 next year. It is therefore important that we start organising our capital base appropriately to take into account where we are now heading.”
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