The Brief:
Steadfast Group has locked in a binding $7.7bn all-cash bid from a consortium of KKR, Dragoneer Investment and Amwins, the biggest cash M&A deal for a financial services company in Australian history.
Mallesons acts for Steadfast, Gilbert + Tobin and Ropes & Gray for KKR and Dragoneer, and Ashurst Perkins Coie for Amwins.
The deal
Steadfast Group, one of Australasia’s leading insurance broker networks and underwriting agency groups, is heading off the ASX.
KKR, Dragoneer Investment and Amwins have made their $6-a-share bid binding, capping weeks of due diligence and two rounds of “soft exclusivity” extensions, first on 9 July and again on 19 August, when the bidders were told: time’s up.
The deal has now been signed, with a price tag of $7.7bn.
It’s an all-cash deal, needs shareholder sign-off, and isn’t subject to financing. KKR is doing the heavy lifting on debt.
Once implemented, KKR and Dragoneer will co-own Steadfast’s retail broking business, while Amwins takes the underwriting agency arm.
It’s been a busy year for the sector.
Rival AUB Group fielded a bid of its own from EQT and CVC Capital Partners, before that duo walked.
Private capital has been circling Australian financial services more broadly too:
Blackstone picked up HSBC’s $34bn Australian loan book.
Brookfield is chasing the $5bn-plus Colonial First State.
EQT Holdings has fielded bids from TPG and BGH Capital in the past week alone.
Who’s acting
Mallesons is in Steadfast’s corner, led by partners Peter Stirling and Jonathan Grant. It’s a familiar mandate. Mallesons has advised Steadfast since its 2013 ASX listing, and on acquisitions and raisings ever since.
On the buy side, Gilbert + Tobin and US firm Ropes & Gray are acting for KKR and Dragoneer. G+T declined to comment on its role, but the scheme implementation deed names partners Peter Cook, Alastair Corrigall, Alex Kauye and Olivia Blakiston. G+T knows KKR well, having acted on its $1.4bn buyout of Perpetual in 2024.
Ashurst Perkins Coie advised Amwins, led by John Brewster, the firm’s Head of Corporate for Asia Pacific. He was backed by partners Neil Pathak, Will Mason, Rehana Box, Melissa Fraser, Andrew Craig, Philip Hardy and Gwladys Ngo Tedga Yagla, counsel Zoe Leyland, and senior associates Shay Thananjeyan, Zach McLoughlin, Josh Hanegbi and Imogen Hanrahan.
It’s not the first time Mallesons and Ashurst Perkins Coie have squared off on a major financial services consolidation play. The pair went head-to-head months earlier on CC Capital’s $3.3bn takeover of Insignia Financial.
Source: Steadfast, Ashurst Perkins Coie, AFR