[March 2015]
LDC backs £207million management buyout of global insurance technology specialist SSP
LDC, the mid-market private equity investor, has backed the management buyout of global technology systems and solutions provider SSP. LDC has taken a majority equity stake in the business.
SSP is a market leader in the provision of mission critical IT systems and services to the general insurance industry. The firm’s end-to-end services are delivered in 50 countries to over 50,000 users and help organisations to use data to better analyse risks, improve efficiencies across platforms, reduce costs and improve customer experience.
CloudOrigin was uniquely positioned to provide Technology Landscape research to understand the relevance and future opportunity of the broad portfolio of SSP solutions to general insurance and broking sectors. Richard Hall, CloudOrigin CEO led the engagement: “The insurance industry is rapidly evolving and shedding the perception as a conservative technology sector, with SSP in the vanguard of this change to serve a global market. We were able to bring our industry knowledge of global insurance requirements and systems strategy together with insights from the leading SaaS and cloud growth providers to paint a picture of the future Technology Landscape for the investors”.
The business serves over 1,000 insurance brokers, as well as over 160 insurers, including 20 of the world’s largest underwriters. SSP’s broking technology processes transactions worth over £5bn in gross written premiums and over 1.1bn internet insurance quotes annually.
The company, which employs over 700 staff, is headquartered in Halifax and has offices in Solihull and Aldershot, as well as operations in Australia, Far East, South Africa, Africa, India, Ireland and New Zealand.
The investment will support the management team as it aims to accelerate the growth of SSP in the UK and internationally, building on its strong broker customer base and introducing intelligent data services, including telematics and fraud detection, to help insurers better assess risks.
The deal was led by LDC Director John Garner and Investment Director Dale Alderson.
Dale Alderson, Investment Director at LDC, said: “The global insurance industry is under increasing pressure to modernise its use of data to become more efficient, cut down costs, expand distribution and secure more accurate risk analysis. SSP is at the forefront of this market, and with our support, will help transform the way that insurers operate and dramatically improve customer experience.”
“Laurence leads a highly ambitious team that is eager to build on the success of its international network. We are excited to back the business once again.”
John Garner, Director at LDC, said: “Over the last decade, SSP has evolved into a truly global leader that has capitalised on the ever-increasing technological demands of the insurance industry, as well as the financial services sector. Laurence leads a highly ambitious team that is eager to build on the success of its international network. We are excited to back the business once again and support it through another era of growth.”
Laurence Walker, Group Chief Executive at SSP, said: “Operating in such a rapidly evolving sector requires continuous investment and improvement in services for our clients. The partnership with LDC provides us with the investment to continue to rapidly develop the business, and enables us to fully leverage the expansion of our international office network and the global opportunity to deliver our solutions.”
“The partnership with LDC provides us with the investment to continue to rapidly develop the business, and enables us to fully leverage the expansion of our international office network”
Debt was provided by US lenders Guggenheim Investments and Wells Fargo to support the transaction.