Australian insurance company PSC Insurance Group has agreed to acquire UK-based independent Lloyd’s and London Market broker Paragon International for £42m.
Image: UK insurance broker Paragon to be acquired by PSC Insurance. Photo: courtesy of rawpixel/Pixabay.
Established in 1996, Paragon focuses on professional and financial lines. The insurance broker has more than 90 staff who are said to have expertise in professional liability, cyber, casualty, healthcare, director’s & officers, and mergers & acquisitions insurance.
Paragon caters to several major technology, legal, engineering, and architectural companies.
The company offers wholesale brokerage services to its clients in the US, and in the UK, it provides both direct and wholesale brokerage services.
More than 60% of Paragon’s revenue comes from the US wholesale market. PSC Insurance said that the transaction will give it exposure to the significant US market through an established brokerage firm based in London.
Through the combination of its existing UK businesses and Paragon, PSC Insurance is expected to be among the top Lloyd’s brokers with a greatly improved market profile. The acquisition is expected to nearly double the EBITDA of PSC Insurance’s UK businesses.
Through its 100% controlled subsidiaries, the insurance services group will have premiums of nearly £500m.
PSC Insurance managing director Tony Robinson said: “The acquisition of Paragon will greatly add to the scale and expertise within our UK businesses and we will enhance our position as a leading Lloyd’s broker providing services to US insurance brokers.
“Tara Falk and James Kalbassi have built a very impressive business over more than two decades, and we are very pleased to be partnering with the whole team at Paragon. Many of the Paragon team will become material shareholders in the PSC Group.”
Upon closing of the deal, Paragon will continue to operate as an independent business unit of PSC Insurance and the leadership team of the UK insurance broker will continue in their role of handling the operations of the business. The acquisition will be subject to approval from the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
Paragon co-CEO and founder James Kalbassi said: “This is a very exciting transaction. We are building from a position of strength, with a compelling, broader independent platform to create a more powerful specialty broking business.
“Our strategy remains unchanged : we will continue to differentiate the Paragon brand as a specialist Lloyd’s broker, with everyone continuing to focus on our customers and the opportunity to accelerate the growth of our business.”