Carlyle Group to buy insurance service Sedgwick for £5.1bn
Private equity firm The Carlyle Group has acquired US insurance claims service provider Sedgwick for $6.7bn (£5.1bn).
Current majority shareholder KKR will exit the group and Stone Point Capital, CDPQ and Sedgwick management will remain minority shareholders when the deal coses later this year.
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Sedgwick currently handles more than 3.6m claims a year, which are worth more than $19.5bn.
The Carlyle Group managing director and head of healthcare Stephen Wise said: “Dave North and Sedgwick’s world-class management team have built the company into an industry leader over the last two decades.
"We are excited to collaborate with Sedgwick, which has distinguished itself by constantly improving the claims management and loss adjusting process to the benefit of all key stakeholders, including its colleagues, customers, insurance companies and brokers."
Equity capital for the investment will come from Carlyle Partners VII, an $18.5bn fund that focuses on US buyouts and the Carlyle Global Financial Services Partners III, which is a dedicated financial services buyout fund.
Merrill Lynch served as financial advisor to Sedgwick, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was legal advisor.
Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and KKR Capital Markets are expected to provide debt financing for the transaction.
Morgan Stanley and Sandler O’Neill + Partners were financial advisors to Carlyle, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as legal advisor.
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