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Insurance broker BMS gets cash infusion

Posted On: Jun. 5, 2019 1:24 PM CST

Cash infusion

BMS Group Ltd. said Wednesday it will receive a £500 million ($635 million) investment from a Canadian investment firm and a U.S. private equity company.

The insurance broker said in a statement the investment by affiliates of Victoria, British Columbia-based British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and Garden City, New York-based Preservation Capital Partners LLP is subject to regulatory approvals and expected to close in the third quarter.

After the transaction, BMS Group’s holding company, London-based Minova Insurance Holdings Ltd., which is employee owned, will be wound up. Minova’s other unit, Pioneer Underwriters, which operates Pioneer Syndicate 1980, will be owned directly by Minova’s current shareholders, according to the statement.

The statement said BMS’ management team members, led by CEO Nick Cook, will all remain in their current roles. Its management and staff will remain one-third shareholders in the company.

“The long-term investment by BCI and PCP secures our future as an independent broker and maintains significant employee ownership,” Mr. Cook said in the statement. “We have grown consistently over the past five years generating revenues in excess of £100 million for the first time in 2018.”

BMS has offices in Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Dallas and Chicago.

In 2014, BMS Associates Ltd. was renamed Minova after completion of a deal under which Capital Partners Management LLP invested $50.7 million in the company.