March 13, 2017
Travelers agreed to approximately $490 million purchase of leading UK business insurance distributor.
On March 13, The Travelers Companies, Inc. announced that it has agreed to purchase Simply Business from Willkie client and private equity group, Aquiline Capital Partners LLC, for an enterprise value of approximately $490 million.
Operating since 2005, Simply Business is a leading distributor of small and medium sized business insurance policies in the United Kingdom, offering products online on behalf of a broad panel of carriers. It operates a customer-facing aggregator website and other digital distribution technologies to provide innovative insurance solutions to businesses in the U.K. The company has more than 425,000 microbusiness customers, covering more than 1,000 classes of business. Over the past three years, insurance premiums placed by Simply Business grew at a compound annual rate of approximately 17.5 percent to £93 million (approx. $113 million) in 2016.
Aquiline acquired Simply Business in 2016 and this agreed sale to Travelers is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017 following regulatory and other approvals. Willkie’s London office acted as legal counsel to Aquiline in both their purchase of Simply Business in 2016 and this sale transaction in 2017.
The Willkie team was led by Joseph Ferraro, Judith Harger and Jeffrey Poss.
