Broker Miller goes independent as Cinven / GIC acquisition completes

Insurance and reinsurance broker Miller, which has an industry-loss warranty (ILW) and insurance-linked securities (ILS) broking practice, is now an independent company again, after its acquisition by by private equity specialist investor Cinven and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC completed.

Cinven and GIC have acquired Miller Insurance Services LLP, the wholesale and London broker, from Willis Towers Watson (WTW).

Willis Group acquired an 85% interest in Miller Insurance Services LLP in 2015, seeking to create a leading wholesale and London market focused broking platform.

Now Miller goes independent, thanks to the acquisition by these two large investors, who acquired Miller from its partners and corporate member, WTW.

Miller provides property catastrophe reinsurance focused broking services and also has a specialism in collateralised and insurance-linked securities (ILS) market placement, in particular industry-loss warranties (ILW’s).

Miller acquired Lloyd’s accredited and London headquartered insurance and reinsurance broker Alston Gayler (AG), a broker with an expansive industry loss warranty (ILW) practice, at the end of 2018.

As a result the broker is active in the ILS space, broking transactions with a range of ILS fund markets and collateralised reinsurance writers.

Greg Collins, CEO, Miller, commented on the acquisitions completion today, “Today marks the start of a new phase of growth. From this point onwards you will begin to see us make precise strategic investments as we look to establish Miller as the leading independent specialist (re)insurance broking firm for clients across the specialist sectors in which we choose to do business. This includes expanding our offering in Asia, Europe and North America, alongside recruiting and incentivising highly skilled specialist brokers to add to the depth of our existing talent base.

“With expanded Miller management ownership in the business, we will be making targeted investments in the business, including enhancing our technology to sharpen our digital capabilities. Independent ownership is absolutely the right model to really accelerate Miller’s growth, whilst staying true to the culture and values the firm holds dear.”

Miller operates in the UK, Lloyd’s and internationally, employing over 640 people through offices in London, Ipswich, Brussels, Paris, Singapore and Geneva.

The company acts as a broker across multiple lines of business, including reinsurance, placing roughly £2 billion worth of premiums annually.