AUG, a Mobeus 1 portfolio company, has been sold to ANV Group Holdings Ltd (“ANV”), a leading global MGA platform operating across the US, the UK and Europe. The transaction is expected to deliver over 4.0x return for Mobeus 1.
Key Highlights of Mobeus’s Involvement
- Significant growth achieved: Gross Written Premium and EBITDA increased more than three times during the investment period
- Strategic M&A executed: three acquisitions completed, broadening the product offering and expanding the geographic footprint
- Pan-European platform created: evolved from a UK-focused specialist into a business generating over 40% of revenues from mainland Europe
- Eighth realisation from Mobeus 1: continues Mobeus’s track record of value creation, with in excess of 4.0x MoC expected from the sale.
In the early years of Mobeus’s investment, the business faced major and sustained disruption to the travel market through the Covid-19 pandemic. Mobeus and the management team carefully navigated that disruption before strategically repositioning the business towards international growth.
Central to that strategy was a deliberate buy-and-build programme. Over the hold period AUG completed three bolt-on acquisitions, broadening its product range and extending its reach across Europe. These included the acquisition of Kaera, a German insurance specialist, bringing longstanding insurer relationships and specialist surety and liability expertise that strengthened AUG’s presence in the DACH region and diversified its client base. AUG also acquired TIE, a UK travel brokerage that deepened the group’s relationships with its UK clients.
Through a combination of organic growth, acquisition and capacity diversification, AUG was transformed from a UK-focused bond provider into a genuinely differentiated pan-European travel surety MGA, well positioned for its next phase of growth under ANV’s ownership.
Mobeus Investment Director Freddie Bacon, who managed the investment and the exit, said:
“AUG’s journey is a remarkable story of resilience and transformation. The management team, led by Richard Watson, Walter McCulloch and non-exec chair Carl Beardmore, navigated the disruption of Covid with skill and determination. Mobeus supported this and the successful execution of European expansion, bolt-on acquisitions, and capacity diversification. The result is a genuinely differentiated European travel surety MGA, and we are proud to have partnered with the team throughout that journey.
ANV’s deep understanding of AUG’s product set and ambition to support further international growth make them an excellent partner, and we wish them and the management team continued success.”