Arachas Corporate Brokers, an insurance broker group chaired by former minister for finance Charlie McCreevy, posted a 30 per cent increase in net profit last year as it continued to play a big roll in ongoing deal-making across the sector.
The company’s profit rose to €40.3 million from €30.9 million for 2022 as turnover, mainly composed of commissions and fees, advanced to €113.4 million from €89 million, according to newly-filed accounts with the Companies Registration Office.
Arachas has been one the most acquisitive brokerage groups in the Republic in recent times. The company took direct ownership of Glennon Insurances in Dublin and Limerick-based O’Malley-Griffin in March 2023, months after it used an acquisition vehicle to acquire the businesses. Maritime broker D & D Insurances was also acquired by the business the following month.
“These results reflect the fact that we now have enhanced expertise and scale to service the complex insurance needs of large corporate clients with specific sectoral requirements, and we are now servicing more and more of Ireland’s largest businesses along with the core SME offering that Arachas is traditionally known for,” said Martin Mohan, the company’s chief financial officer.
“We are still very active in the acquisition space where we are focused on building out both our on-the-ground specialisms along with enhancing our regional presence throughout the country with recent acquisitions in Tipperary, Leitrim and Limerick this year.”
Arachas paid out €38.7 million in dividends to holding companies within the wider corporate family. Still, the payout was down from €77.7 million recorded in 2022.
The company, led by chief executive Joey Wynne, itself was acquired in 2020 by Ardonagh, a UK brokerage group that is backed by US private equity firms Madison Dearborn and HPS Partners, for €250 million in a debt-backed deal.
Mr Wynne took over as chief executive of Arachas in January as previous incumbent Conor Brennan, became executive chairman of Ardonagh’s international portfolio, including the group’s Europe and global partners units.
The wider Irish insurance broker market has seen a flurry of broker deals in the past seven years as it followed waves of consolidation in the UK and North America.
The ultimate backers of most of the purchasing vehicles are private equity firms, attracted to a sector that is fee-based and delivers steady revenues through the economic cycle. This allows buyers to service the debt needed to finance further deals.
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