Socius Insurance Services, Inc, an independently-owned management liability and property/casualty insurance wholesaler, has received a significant growth investment from Abry Partners (Abry), a Boston-based private equity firm. Abry is making the investment in partnership with the company’s CEO Patrick Hanley and senior management.
Socius plans to use proceeds from the investment to accelerate its strategic growth plan and pursue acquisition activities. Socius and Abry have already identified potential acquisitions to further build its national footprint, expand Socius’ locations in new and existing geographies, as well as broaden its suite of insurance offerings. Socius will look to further grow its already industry leading expertise in the management, professional and cyber liability practice disciplines, as well as bolster its position in the property and casualty marketplace. In addition, Socius plans to broaden its product offerings to support their distribution partners by adding complementary binding authorities and managing general agencies.
Abry is partnering with Patrick Hanley, Chief Executive Officer of Socius, who co-founded the company nearly 25 years ago and will continue to lead the company as CEO. Hanley says: “We see tremendous opportunity ahead and look forward to our partnership with the team at Abry who have extensive experience in supporting the growth and expansion efforts of other leading firms like ours. In particular, we look forward to their guidance and expertise as we identify M&A opportunities that will enhance our position as a leading independent broker, including expanding our geography, broadening our product offerings, and enhancing customer service.”
Nathan Ott, Partner at Abry, says: “Abry has been very successful in identifying attractive insurance investment opportunities and partnering with leading insurance industry executives like Patrick to help create category leaders. We believe Socius is extremely well positioned to capitalise on the tailwinds within the hard-to-place surplus lines market and we look forward to supporting Patrick and his extremely talented team during their continued growth both organically and through our collective M&A pipelines.
This latest platform investment by Abry is consistent with the firm’s strategy of partnering with excellent founders and entrepreneurs in the insurance sector. Socius adds to Abry’s current and former investments in insurance companies, including its acquisition this year of full-service insurance brokerage High Street Insurance Partners. Other investments include specialist insurer ERS; Hilb, a leading property and casualty (P&C) insurance and employee benefits broker serving predominantly small to medium sized business; Acrisure, a leading P&C insurance and employee benefits brokerage; and NSM Group, one of the largest privately held P&C Managing General Agencies in the US.
Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc acted as the exclusive financial adviser to Socius Insurance Services, Inc. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Abry.
