Within the agreement, Ambac will acquire 60% of Beat from existing shareholders which include Bain and the management team. As a reflection of America’s commitment to financial alignment with its partners, the two parties will retain an approximately 20% equity stake in Beat.
Claude LeBlanc, CEO of Ambac, commented: “This is a monumental day for Ambac, the acquisition of Beat, which is one of the largest UK independent underwriting managers, aligns with our vision of being a premier destination for MGAs and materially accelerates our progress towards our three-year target of generating in excess of US$100 million of annual EBITDA.”
“This acquisition propels Ambac to the forefront of the specialty programme insurance market. Adding Beat to our platform gives us immediate scale and a strong pipeline to fuel future growth,” He added.
John Cavanagh, Partner and Chair of Beat, commented: “Ambac’s well-established MGA incubation and carrier capabilities and its outstanding leadership team is a perfect fit with Beat’s existing platform and team.”
The partnership will represent one of the biggest platforms for MGAs and underwriting franchises, with a significant footprint in the US, UK and Bermudan markets with scope to grow to other geographies.
“Our aligned capacity, affiliated carrier capabilities, and global licensing offers leading specialty underwriters who have an absolute focus on underwriting profit the perfect platform to build their businesses,” Cavanagh added.
Since 2017, Beat has launched 13 underwriting franchises and MGAs, while also managing Lloyd’s Syndicates 4242 and 1416 and maintaining an exclusive capacity relationship with Bermuda reinsurer Cadenza Re. In 2023, Beat’s businesses generated US$533 million in combined gross premiums and around US$17 million in EBITDA. With Beat’s inclusion, Ambac’s specialty property and casualty insurance platform is expected to produce over US$1.4 billion in gross written premiums on a combined full-year 2024 pro forma basis.
