British insurance broker Ardonagh Group has announced plans to acquire Portugal-based insurance broker and risk management provider MDS.
The announcement comes just a week after Ardonagh secured an equity investment that valued it at $7.5bn.
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MDS’ core broking operations span across property and casualty, health, retail, and wholesale market.
Ardonagh noted that MDS is the only Portuguese Lloyd’s broker with operations in Brazil, where it is the country’s largest independent broker, as well as Angola, Mozambique, Spain, and Malta.
In Malta, MDS operates a Highdome PCC, which offers alternative solutions to the traditional insurance market including captive and reinsurance solutions.
It offers risk management services through Risk Consulting Group (RCG).
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By GlobalDataArdonagh did not disclose the value of the deal. As per Bloomberg’s report, Ardonagh Global Partners will pay over $268m to Sonae Group and IPLF Holding for MDS’s 100% stake.
Upon the deal completion, which awaits regulatory approval, MDS Group Global CEO José Manuel Fonseca will continue to lead the business as part of Ardonagh Global Partners.
Ardonagh Global Partners CEO Des O’Connor said: “MDS intends to continue taking full advantage of the fast-growing and evolving Portuguese and Brazilian insurance markets and economies. The business is ideally placed to support a broad range of clients to protect against a constantly changing risk environment, and to bring on board other culturally and strategically aligned independent brokers in the geographies in which it operates.”
Porto-headquartered MDS employs 900 people and recorded revenue of €74.8m during the 12 months that ended on 30 June 2021. It manages over €500m in insurance premiums for 1.2 million private and corporate clients annually, Ardonagh added.
Fonseca said: “We are incredibly excited to be joining forces with a global independent group with Ardonagh’s scale and dynamic culture. With access to Ardonagh’s considerable resource and capital, we look forward to accelerating our organic and inorganic growth plans.”
