AmWINS Group, Inc.
AmWINS Group, Inc. is the nation’s leading wholesale insurance broker, placing over $10 billion of premiums annually through its relationships with more than 20,000 retail brokerage firms and more than 1,500 insurance carriers. AmWINS’ expertise covers a wide range of specialty insurance products and services in the Property & Casualty (“P&C”) and group benefits insurance marketplace. The Company has over 3,300 employees in 98 offices and 17 countries, and AmWINS’ deep industry knowledge and capabilities, extensive geographic reach and independent relationships with insurance carriers and retail insurance brokers allow it to serve as a critical intermediary in the complex and highly fragmented specialty insurance market. The Company operates in four diversified divisions: U.S. Wholesale Brokerage, International Brokerage, Underwriting, and Group Benefits.
New Mountain identified AmWINS as part of its multi-year, proactive “deep dive” effort into the insurance space, and began a dialog with AmWINS’ senior management in 2011. The AmWINS sales process began as an auction. However, AmWINS management, who had substantial ownership in AmWINS before the sale, became strong supporters of New Mountain’s value added investment approach and team. They then stopped the auction process, and agreed to the partnership with New Mountain on an exclusive negotiated basis.
AmWINS’s senior management has made a substantial personal equity investment in the company alongside New Mountain equal to more than 30% of the company’s equity. The firm is currently working with management to execute an accelerated growth strategy for AmWINS, to expand the company’s core competencies and service offerings, and to create additional value for the company and its stakeholders.