Ardonagh Group sped up its expansion last year as it completed a record 67 deals including the acquisition of Envest in Australia, the London-based company says. 

The merger and acquisition activity added $US101 million ($154 million) of pro-forma adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). More than 80% of the merger and acquisition investments were in Europe and Australia. 

“Having celebrated the Ardonagh Group’s fifth anniversary in 2022, this past year has witnessed a step change in the group’s development,” Chairman John Tiner said. 

“With the expansion of the business our footprint has changed dramatically, with now almost 70% of revenues coming from outside the UK.” 

Reported income last year rose 33.5% to $US1.6 billion ($2.4 billion) and adjusted EBITDA increased 42.5% to $US522 million ($794 million), excluding Ardonagh Retail, which will be merged with Markerstudy Group in a deal announced last year. 

Group CEO David Ross says the results reflect “a very strong year” as the group stepped up expansion and benefited from investment in organic initiatives. The company has invested in assets that “can themselves make add-on acquisitions” and harness the opportunities that come from being part of a portfolio of independent specialists with powerful scale, he says. 

Ardonagh received strong support from multicurrency public and private lending markets during a refinancing at the beginning of this year. 

“To have completed an oversubscribed offer of this magnitude is a huge vote of confidence in the company, and an excellent outcome to continue to support our expansive strategy into 2024 and beyond,” Mr Ross said. 

In Europe, Ardonagh last year acquired Klap in the Netherlands, SRS in Greece and Swiss commercial broker ASSEPRO. 

Australian businesses under the Envest umbrella include Resilium Insurance Broking, Aviso Group and underwriting agencies such as Blue Zebra.