Insurance and reinsurance firm DARAG has entered into an equity commitment agreement with Aleph Capital and Crestview Partners, providing equity funding of up to €260 million (around US$304 million) to support growth plans for the business.
According to DARAG, the commitment follows substantial growth in the European insurance run-off market and its plans to advance the build-out of its US operations. The firm also recently enhanced its management team with the appointment of a new chairman and a chief executive officer.
“We have already come a long way in Europe, where we are a market leader, and will now be bringing our expertise to the United States and beyond, where we see substantial demand for skilled legacy acquirers such as DARAG,” DARAG chairman Stuart Davies noted. “Aleph and Crestview’s significant investment will support our ambitious expansion targets and their strong track-record in the insurance sector makes them an excellent partner.”
Aleph founder and CEO Hugues Lepic, meanwhile, said: “DARAG is on an exciting trajectory in the rapidly expanding and increasingly important legacy segment of the P&C insurance industry.
“In the coming years, we see significant opportunities to drive growth globally and we are very excited to be partnering with Keyhaven and DARAG’s management team to support the company in this next important phase of its development,” he added.
DARAG is a company that specializes in legacy acquisitions, owned by Keyhaven Capital Partners.
The equity funding commitment is expected to be completed by the end of 2018, subject to regulatory approvals. DARAG Group was advised by Macquarie Capital (Europe) on the transaction.
