The private equity firm Carlyle Group will acquire NSM Insurance Group from White Mountains Insurance Group. NSM, a specialty insurance programs administrator, is valued at about $1.78 billion.
White Mountains expects the transaction to lead to about a $280 gain to its adjusted book value per share and increase undeployed capital from about $400 million to $1.7 billion. The deal is forecast to close during the second half of the year, pending regulatory approval.
"(With White Mountains), we achieved strong organic growth, completed six strategic acquisitions, added high-quality talent, and built a specialized, diversified, and scaled insurance distribution platform,” NSM Chief Executive Officer Geof McKernan told Insurance Business Magazine.
NSM is one of the largest independent insurance brokerages for workers’ compensation, pets, nonprofits, trucking, and behavioral healthcare. Carlyle plans to expand the business even further.
The firm “will look to invest back into the platform a bit more heavily and ramp up M&A activity,” Carlyle Managing Director James Burr told Reuters.
The private equity firm is no stranger to the insurance services sector and expects to work with NSM's founder-led management team to execute assorted upside growth drivers. These include “continued operational improvement, accretive M&A opportunities, and strategic investments in technology and data & analytics," Carlyle Head of Global Financial Services John Redett said.
