BGC Partners has agreed to acquire global wholesale and specialty broker Ed.
Under the terms of the agreement, a subsidiary of BGC will acquire 100 percent of Ed, which includes broking operations under the Ed brand in UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Miami and China; Ed's German marine broking arm Junge & Co. Versicherungsmakler GmbH; Ed's managing general agent (MGA) operations Globe Underwriting Limited based in the UK; and Cooper Gay (France) SAS, which is based in Paris.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The deal expands BGC's insurance division, which was established in 2017 when the global brokerage and financial technology company acquired Lloyd’s broker Besso.
In a statement, BGC said that Ed expects to report revenues of around $100mn in 2018.
With the addition of Ed 's brokers and back office personnel, Ed and Besso combined are expected to place approximately $2bn of premium in 2018 and have approximately 300 combined brokers operating across 10 countries.
Ed group CEO Steve Hearn said: “To be able to announce the agreement with BGC is tremendously satisfying, given their ambition and appetite for growth. We feel that the best fit and the strongest future for us is with BGC, one of the leading brokerage firms in the world. With them, we are poised to make the next leap forward to redefine insurance broking.”
Shaun Lynn, president of BGC Partners, commented: "We are delighted to reach an agreement to purchase Ed, a leading independent Lloyd's of London broker with a global footprint.
“It will be an important acquisition with respect to our strategy of building the insurance brokerage division within the company".
