Dunedin exits Kingsbridge

NSM has wholly acquired the company from Dunedin, which owned a majority stake, and the management team, who held the remainder.

Kingsbridge was a Dunedin Buyout Fund III portfolio company; the vehicle closed on £300m in June 2013. The fund has already made several realisations including the sale of Alpha Financial Markets Consulting and Blackrock Programme Management.

NSM made an unsolicited approach to acquire Kingsbridge. Oliver Bevan, a partner at Dunedin, said: "We didn't have plans to run a process for another 12 months, but we were impressed with NSM's knowledge of the businesses. The management team would have been interested in a sale to another private equity firm as well, but NSM demonstrated absolute credibility."

The management team will stay on with the company following the transaction. Bevan said: "Following the transaction, we expect Kingsbridge to do more of the same: to increase market share, explore internationalising, and offer new products."

During the holding period, the company acquired Larsen Howie, an online provider of insurance and tax related services, in August 2018, and bought insurance technology provider Dinghy in January 2019. Bevan told Unquote that Dunedin helped to originate both these companies.

According to Bevan: "These acquisitions widened the company's existing distribution channels and increased Kingsbridge's online presence, as well as exposure to the IR-35 market."

Previous funding
Livingbridge acquired a minority stake in Kingsbridge for £5m in January 2014. Since investing, the company's profits have almost doubled, according to the GP.

Dunedin acquired a stake in the company in a deal worth £33m.

Company
Founded in 2001, Kingsbridge has offices in Tewkesbury, London, Liverpool, Leicester and Guernsey, and employs 100 people. It provides specialist insurance plans to more than 55,000 contractor and freelance customers.

People
Dunedin – Oliver Bevan (partner).
Kingsbridge – James Twining (CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – Evercore (corporate finance); KBW (corporate finance).

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• Topics
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Financials
• United Kingdom
• Dunedin
• Trade sale