Specialist early-stage investor B.P. Marsh & Partners has announced the sale of a stake in UK based motor insurance managing general agent Walsingham Motor Insurance Limited for £4.6 million.
The stake amounted to a 40.5% shareholding in London-based managing general agency Walsingham Motor Insurance.
As well as the sale of that stake, which generates B.P. Marsh £4.6 million in cash, the investor will also receive a further £0.2 million in cash from its 20% shareholding in Walsingham Holdings Ltd, giving total proceeds of £4.8 million alongside the repayment of £0.3 million in loans.
Walsingham Motor Insurance, which is a in UK Courier and Taxi fleet motor insurance, has been acquired by Humn.ai Limited, a London-based insurtech insurance provider producing real-time data-driven fleet insurance.
B.P. Marsh first invested £0.3 million in Walsingham in December 2013, with total equity investment to date of £0.6 million, so the disposal represents an attractive return.
B.P. Marsh said that this disposal represents a multiple of eight times the equity invested and delivers an Internal Rate of Return of 22% (inclusive of all income and fees).
CEO of Walsingham, Garry Watson, commented, “It has been a pleasure working with the B.P. Marsh team over the past years and their contribution and support has been invaluable in getting Walsingham to where we are today.”
Commenting on the disposal, B.P. Marsh’s Finance Director and Nominee Director on the Board of Walsingham, Jon Newman, said, “It has been a pleasure to work with Garry Watson, Martin Gray and the whole team at WMIL over the past eight years and to see the business grow and flourish. The acquisition by Humn offers an exciting future for them, and we wish everyone at WMIL every success.
“The sale of our stake in WMIL at an IRR of 22% is another example of B.P. Marsh being able to identify niche opportunities to back successful management teams and to successfully realise value for our shareholders. This demonstrates the benefits of our investment process which has proven successful over a number of years.”
