Hg invests $1.5bn in Hyperion at $5bn valuation

The firm has drawn equity from its Hg Saturn 2 fund, which held an interim close on $4bn in March 2020.

In conjunction with an additional debt raise and existing resources, the investment will provide Hyperion with up to $1.5bn to accelerate its growth with both selective acquisitions and investments in data and technology.

The Hyperion management team and employees will remain the largest shareholder group in the company, with more than 1,000 individuals now owning shares.

The company will represent Hg's sixth investment in the insurance sector since 2015, with these businesses together totalling more than $1bn in invested client capital, according to a statement.

One such business is insurance intermediary A-Plan, which Hyperion subsidiary Howden acquired from Hg in September 2020. Hg came into contact with David Howden, Hyperion's CEO, through the deal, thus originating this investment, according to a statement.

Previous funding
BP Marsh first invested £25,000 in Hyperion in 1994.

BP Marsh led a £5.1m funding round for Hyperion in 2006, which saw Spanish investment firm Murofo Investments SLU inject capital into the business and take an 11.7% stake. Murofo's stake then increased to 14.4% when the firm acquired a portion of BP Marsh's shares in 2011.

At the time of 3i's 2008 investment, which was valued at more than £31m in July 2011, BP Marsh retained its 19.5% stake in the business. The GP's stake was then lowered to around 16% when the firm sold 2.75% to co-investor Murofo for £4.5m.

General Atlantic bought a 33% stake in Hyperion from 3i in March 2013, in a deal that gave the company an equity value of £250m and enabled 3i to reap a 2.1x multiple on its original £31m equity investment. General Atlantic bought out 3i's total 22.8% stake in the insurance group, along with 80% of co-backer BP Marsh's stake, which equated to roughly 11% of all Hyperion shares. BP Marsh remained a shareholder in the company with a 2.76% stake.

Quebec-based LP Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ) acquired a minority stake worth $400m (c£298m) in Hyperion in December 2017. In addition, the company announced the launch of a debt refinancing, which extended and repriced its existing term loan facility to 2024 and included the issuance of additional primary debt. It also extended its existing undrawn revolving credit facility. Along with the capital from CDPQ, this arrangement provided Hyperion with $300m in additional capital for future investments. At the time, the company had EBITDA of around £150m.

Company
Founded in 1994 and headquartered in London, Hyperion is an international insurance distribution group. Through its core activities of retail, speciality, and reinsurance broking, and through Dual, the company's managing general agent, it facilitates the provision of B2B insurance. It operates across 200 global offices in 40 countries and employs around 6,000 people. The company reported EBITDA of £192m for the year ending on 30 September 2019. 

People
Hg – Andrew Land (partner); Nic Humphries (senior partner).
Hyperion – Dominic Collins (chairman).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Expansion
• UK / Ireland
• Financials
• United Kingdom
• HgCapital
• General Atlantic
• Minority investing