Clifford Chance, Freshfields and Mayer Brown advised on EQT’s acquisition of a majority stake in McGill & Partners.

EQT X acquired a majority stake in McGill & Partners, a leading specialty (re)insurance broker, from Warburg Pincus in a transaction valuing McGill & Partners at approximately US$2 billion. Warburg Pincus sold its equity stake in full, while founder and Chief Executive Officer Steve McGill, the management team and the wider employee base will reinvest alongside EQT and retain a meaningful ownership stake in the company.

The transaction marks the conclusion of Warburg Pincus’ investment in McGill & Partners, which began when the firm was founded in 2019, and establishes a new partnership between EQT and the company’s all-employee ownership structure as McGill & Partners continues its global expansion.

Clifford Chance advised EQT on the acquisitions.

The multi-disciplinary team was led by Head of Private Equity Spencer Baylin, together with partners Graham Phillips and Thomas Fisher, with support from Victoria Ho, Martin Kolmar, Eleanor Burkin, Angus Hancock, Ruth McAteer, Ross Nixon and Shoshana Leibovici. Specialist expertise was provided by Global Insurance team, led by James Cashier, and Employment and Incentives team, led by Sonia Gilbert.

Freshfields advised McGill & Partners and its majority shareholder Warburg Pincus on the sale.

The cross-practice team is being led by private equity partner Patrick Ko and senior associate Alex Collins, with partner Alastair Mordaunt advising on antitrust matters, partner Peter Clements advising on tax matters, and partner James Smethurst advising on financial services regulatory matters.

Mayer Brown advised the management team of McGill & Partners.

The team was led by Corporate partners Rebecca Bothamley and James West as well as counsel Daniel Williams and included Corporate associates Joshua Flew and Toby Boyd (all London) with Insurance partners Colin Scagell (London) and Vikram Sidhu and associate Juliana Toes (both New York).