EQT Pays $2 Billion for McGill as Specialty Broking Deals Pile Up

Swedish buyout firm EQT agreed to pay $2 billion for a majority stake in London specialty broker McGill and Partners, buying out Warburg Pincus in a deal that caps a seven-year run from startup to a scaled global platform and extends private equity's consolidation of insurance distribution.

"Our vision was to build an independent (re)insurance broker defined by its unparalleled expertise, cutting edge technology and an absolute focus on sophisticated clients," Steve McGill, founder and chief executive of McGill and Partners, said. "To have turned what was merely an idea seven years ago into a $2 billion global specialty enterprise is an achievement we are all incredibly proud of."

EQT X, the firm's flagship buyout fund, will acquire the full equity position held by Warburg Pincus, which backed McGill and Partners since its founding in May 2019. Founder and CEO Steve McGill, a former group president at Aon, will continue to lead the business, while Chairman John Lloyd stays on; both retain meaningful stakes alongside the firm's wider colleague base under a new Equity Participation Plan. The transaction, subject to customary approvals, is expected to close in the first half of 2027, after which EQT X is expected to be 85-90 percent invested.

The deal lands in the same week that KKR agreed to sell USI Insurance Services to Aon in a transaction reported at roughly $17 billion, a sale that delivered KKR about six times its original investment after it first backed USI in 2017 at a $4.3 billion valuation. Put together, the two exits show financial sponsors that entered insurance distribution years ago are cashing out at multiples that would have looked implausible a decade ago, while buyers keep paying up for the steady, contract-backed revenue that broking generates.

McGill and Partners has grown to revenue in excess of $250 million, more than 600 colleagues across seven countries and over 1,000 insurance and reinsurance clients since its launch. The firm posted organic revenue growth of more than 20 percent and a 79 percent jump in adjusted EBITDA in the first half of 2025, and completed a $300 million refinancing from Morgan Stanley, Permira and Bridgepoint last September. Reports surfaced in January that Warburg was sounding out advisers about a sale that could fetch north of $1 billion; the confirmed $2 billion figure is double that early guidance.

What EQT is buying is a broker built on a "no-legacy" technology stack designed for clean, structured data and seamless integration, an architecture its backers argue has let the firm deploy data analytics and AI faster than rivals carrying decades of stitched-together systems. EQT plans to invest behind organic growth through talent recruitment, deeper technology and data capabilities, and expansion of digital solutions, while preserving the firm's independent model and its "Contract of Trust" culture of broad-based employee ownership.

The U.S. growth angle is the most directly relevant element for a domestic audience. McGill already runs a New York center of excellence and a dedicated U.S. subsidiary, McGill Global Risk Solutions, giving EQT an existing platform to build from rather than entering the market cold. Miriam Tawil, a partner at EQT Private Equity, said the focus would be on accelerating growth of the firm's U.S. and international client portfolio and "further connecting the world to the Lloyd's and London market."

The acquisition adds to a string of private equity-backed transactions reshaping specialty broking, where advisory-intensive models, sticky client relationships and the growing complexity of corporate risk have made brokers durable cash-flow assets. EQT is separately said to be weighing a possible London listing for CFC, the cyber-focused specialty insurer it has backed alongside Vitruvian Partners since 2021, with speculation suggesting a valuation north of $6 billion.

For Warburg Pincus, the sale marks a successful conclusion to a founder-led bet. "This is precisely the kind of founder-led, high-conviction investment that Warburg Pincus was built to support – and the outcome speaks for itself," said James O'Gara, managing director and partner at the firm, which manages more than $105 billion in assets.

The deal signals that scale, technology investment and a clean balance sheet command a premium from both strategic and financial buyers, and that premium is not compressing even as pricing across specialty lines softens. McGill and Partners was advised by Evercore, Perella Weinberg, Freshfields and Unity Advisory, with management counseled by Mayer Brown and Liberty Corporate Finance; Ardea Partners served as exclusive financial advisor and Clifford Chance as legal counsel to EQT.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.