The transaction, announced today by J. Scott Penny, chief acquisitions officer of Brown & Brown and the BdB management ownership team, is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.
BdB, which was founded nearly three decades ago, provides insurance professionals in the UK and Europe with access to specialized solutions.
BdB (UK) Limited, BdB Limited, BdB Europe SRL, Mithras Underwriting Limited, Mithras Underwriting Europe SRL, and Mithras Underwriting Italia SRL are among its current subsidiaries. BdB's team specializes in providing a variety of insurance products through open market brokerage or acting as an MGA for specific lines.
Following the completion of the transaction, BdB will continue to operate from its current locations in London, Belgium, and Italy, led by Silvestro de Besi, Pierluigi Pezone, Peter Goff, Matteo Giuliani, David Colville, Martin Lunn, Steve Toye, and Matthew Kendall. Bridge Specialty Group's president, Steve Boyd, will now be in charge of the company.
Brown & Brown established Bridge Specialty Group in February of last year to encompass its diverse portfolio of wholesale brands.
"We are very excited to welcome Silvestro and the talented team at BdB to Bridge Specialty Group," Boyd said of the acquisition. BdB has a long-standing reputation as a best-in-class provider with their agency and carrier partners as a leading wholesale brokerage and MGA platform. We quickly recognized that they would be a good cultural fit for our company.
"As a group, we believe we can continue to develop differentiated products and service capabilities that meet the changing needs of customers in the UK and mainland Europe."
"From our origins as a small Italian team that joined forces with a French team and later a UK team, we have prospered by serving the needs of our clients and, above all, by aiming to look after our employees," Silvestro de Besi added. We have reached a point in our development where we recognize that in order to move forward and secure the future of our employees, we require the support of larger shoulders.
"From the first meeting, Brown & Brown stood out as the firm that shared our values, was eager to work with us, and met our long-term goals."
"We are thrilled to be joining the Brown & Brown family, and we are confident that with their assistance, we will continue to prosper and grow, expanding our collective presence in Europe."