GCP Capital Partners, a middle market private equity firm, has sold its interests in Acrisure to Genstar Capital. The sale was a successful outcome for GCP following its $20 million investment in Acrisure in 2010 in order to support the company’s acquisition growth plan.
Acrisure’s product lines include property & casualty, employee benefits and related third party administrator services, human resource outsourcing, loss & claims management, surety bonding and personal lines coverage. The company was co-founded in 2005 by CEO Greg Williams to acquire independent insurance agencies across the Midwest and since then has completed 26 acquisitions. The company is based in Grand Rapids, MI (www.acrisure.com).
“I am very pleased with the partnership we developed with GCP and the confidence they demonstrated in our team over the course of their investment. Having initially built Acrisure with primarily individual and personal capital, GCP was our first institutional capital partner. We are grateful for GCP’s strategic guidance and hands-on involvement, which allowed us to grow our sales and operating infrastructure more rapidly and to position Acrisure today to enter its next phase of growth with its new investment partner,” said Mr. Williams.
“Greg Williams is a highly capable manager and leader who has built an exceptionally strong team and culture at Acrisure. There are a limited number of insurance brokerage platforms in the U.S. that have grown to a significant scale. Since our investment three years ago, we have worked closely with Acrisure’s management to achieve its growth plans and create a strong operating platform through complementary acquisitions, organic growth and development of key sales and management talent. Through these efforts, Acrisure has become a leading retail insurance platform in the Midwest, and we believe the company is capable of continuing to generate substantial future growth,” said Boris Gutin, a Managing Director at GCP Capital.
GCP Capital Partners manages three private equity funds that have invested $1.4 billion in 50 portfolio companies. The funds have made significant investments in the business services, education, energy, financial services, insurance and telecommunications industries. GCP generally makes controlling or influential minority investments of $10 million to $50 million in companies with enterprise values of $20 million to $250 million. GCP Capital Partners was formed as the successor to Greenhill Capital Partners, the merchant banking business of Greenhill & Co., Inc. (NYSE: GHL), which was founded in 2000. With the support of Greenhill & Co., the founders and senior investment professionals of Greenhill Capital Partners founded GCP Capital in December 2009 to manage the existing Greenhill Capital Partners funds and to raise successor funds. The firm is headquartered in New York (www.greenhillcapitalpartners.com).
“Our investment strategy is to partner with strong management teams in industries having long-term growth prospects and a high degree of fragmentation. GCP has completed seven investments in the insurance industry. We evaluated a large number of insurance brokerage platforms before choosing to back Greg and his team at Acrisure. We are delighted to have provided support to management over the last several years as Acrisure significantly grew its earnings and to have completed a successful realization for our investors,” said Robert Niehaus, Chairman of GCP Capital.
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 3-6-13
