Howden Group Holdings, the international insurance intermediary group, has announced plans to acquire Italian-headquartered broker Assiteca S.p.A.
Assiteca has employees operating across 19 cities in Italy, as well as operations in Spain and Switzerland, with a turnover of brokerage commissions of approximately €90 million.
Howden says the business will be “highly complementary” to its existing broking business in Italy, which is a particular focus for Howden following its acquisitions of Andrea Scagliarini in July 2021 and Tower in January 2022.
Subject to the completion of the transaction, various members of Assiteca’s management will retain key positions in the management of the Company.
Specifically, Luciano Lucca will remain as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Gabriele Giacoma will remain as Chief Executive Officer, and Nicola Girelli will remain as Finance Director.
“The union of Assiteca and Howden is an extraordinary opportunity for our clients, our colleagues and the insurance market,” said Howden CEO José Manuel González. “Our commitment to building a leading broking business in Italy and more broadly in Europe by joining with the leading entrepreneurial talent in our chosen markets to bring much needed choice to clients is unwavering.”
“Assiteca is already a key partner of our wider Group in Italy through our sister company DUAL Italia, and so we know well that Luciano and Gabriele have built a team which shares an outlook with Howden; one to deliver quality service and solutions to our clients, with a personal touch driven by core employee ownership,” Girelli continued.
“It is my fervent belief that together with our existing broking operations in Italy, which includes the talented teams of Andrea Scagliarini and Tower, and with the additional firepower of our international specialty expertise and operations, we will be a new force in Italian broking.”
Luciano Lucca, Assiteca’s founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors, also commented: “The combination of Assiteca and Howden represents a very important change for insurance broking business. Actually, it will create a new international giant in Italy, which will contribute a significant value and dynamism in the market. I strongly believe in this transaction, because, as I did throughout my fifty years of business activity, I love investing in the future.”
Howden has signed a definitive share sale and purchase agreement with Lucca’s S.r.l. a company 100%-controlled by Assiteca’s founder, Luciano Lucca, and Chaise S.p.A., a company 100% owned indirectly by Tikehau Growth Equity II, to acquire a total holding of 86.965% of the outstanding share capital of Assiteca.
