British insurance broker PIB Group, controlled by private equity funds Apax and Carlyle, has placed Martín Navaz at the head of its Spanish business as CEO after completing the purchase of Confide, a brokerage of which he controlled 70% of the capital and leads as chairman.
Navaz, which with the transaction also becomes a shareholder of the group, expressed its commitment to PIB and its desire to help drive growth in Spain.
PIB is a specialist insurance broker with a strong national brand presence in the UK and is expanding into different countries in Europe. Its presence extends across Germany, Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Ireland.
In Spain, it is growing rapidly and has decided to make Confide “the cornerstone of PIB’s expansion in Spain by supporting our ongoing M&A activity,” according to PIB Group European M&A director James Harmer.
“I am delighted that we are now officially part of the PIB Group and can begin to bring our growth strategy to life in Spain,” said Navaz, who was also welcomed by PIB Group CEO Brendan McManus.
Founded more than 30 years ago, Confide has 65 employees and offices in Madrid and Barcelona. It specializes in insurance for companies, the health sector, civil liability coverage, insurance for senior executives, D&0 and cyber risks, among others.
This is the largest acquisition in the country for PIB Group, which last month added to the project It encompasses. The brokerage firm, with a strong presence in Zaragoza 25 million in premiums, had a staff of around 20 employees.
The group’s objective is to achieve an ebitda “of around 25 million euros” in five years, with around 120 million euros in premiums.
With this strategy, the group plans to complete the integration of almost a dozen brokers in just over a year. It entered Spain with the purchase, in the fall of 2021, of Cicor Internacional Correduría de Seguros y Reaseguros and its subsidiary Global Marine, specialists in commercial insurance, with experience in surety and credit, and also specializing in marine and aviation insurance.
In June it added Tractio Risk, specialized in the maritime, land and air sectors and with operations in several countries, and added offices in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao. It currently has four more due diligences open, in transactions that could be closed before the end of the year.
The UK group manages more than £1.5 billion in gross premiums (about €1.8 billion), with revenues of £244 million (€293 million) and employs more than 2,000 people.
