Bryan, Garnier & Co advises Sword Group on the sale of Sword Insurance to leading private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners
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London, June 1st 2011 – Bryan, Garnier & Co, the Pan-European investment bank specialized in growth companies, is proud to announce that it has successfully led the sale of Sword Insurance to U.S. based top private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners.
Sword Insurance, part of France-based Sword Group (NYSE Euronext: SWP), is a global provider of software and services to the property and casualty insurance industry.
“We are very proud of the leadership position we have established in both the US and the UK” said Steve Hauck, Co-CEO of Sword Insurance. “Much of our expanded geographic footprint, growing blue chip customer base and diversified product set is attributable to Sword Group’s support over the last year and a half. We are excited to partner with THL, a firm with a proven track record in both insurance and technology and deep experience in helping companies accelerate growth through providing exceptional service. THL will support us in realizing our vision to support a greater portion of our customers’ complex technology needs as we strive to become a top 5 global technology vendor.”
“Sword Insurance’s leading products, AgencyPortal and Open+, are best-in-class products and integral components of an insurance carrier’s technology solution. We believe that there is an enormous market opportunity available through continued investment in customer service and expanded product solutions to meet insurance carriers’ evolving technology needs” said Charles A. Brizius, Managing Director at Thomas H. Lee Partners.
Speaking about the transaction, Bruno Tourme, Managing Partner and Head of the Technology Group at Bryan, Garnier & Co added: “We are delighted by this transaction, which further demonstrates Bryan Garnier’s expertise in the financial technology space. Insurance software is a booming market and Bryan Garnier is pleased to have become one of the leading advisors in the sector. We believe that the sale of Sword Insurance reflects our ability to deliver innovative and pertinent advice in what is a very technical and fast-expanding industry.”
David Roberts, Managing Director in charge of the transaction at Bryan, Garnier & Co added that: “This transaction demonstrates Bryan Garnier’s ability to operate on cross border deals both with strategic and financial buyers. There is currently a very strong appetite from U.S. Private Equity investors to buy European technology assets and we are proud to be bringing our clients our global network and our local expertise of the technology space.”
The transaction is expected to close next month subject to regulatory approvals.
For more information, please contact:
- Bruno Tourme / Managing Partner, Head of Technology / +44 20 7332 2551 / btourme@bryangarnier.com
- David Roberts / Managing Director / +44 20 7332 2545 / droberts@bryangarnier.com
- Marie Kluth / Director / +44 20 7332 2539 / mkluth@bryangarnier.com
- Sami Mouaket / Associate / +44 20 7332 2546 / smouaket@bryangarnier.com
About Sword Group
Sword Group delivers high value business applications to the world’s largest companies globally.
With operations in 37 countries, Sword today employs over 1,800 people and generates around €185m in consolidated revenue.
Sword’s software portfolio is validated by industry analysts and includes the leading global process-centric CRM software Sword Ciboodle, the number one insurance distribution technology from Sword AgencyPort and the anti-money laundering and straight-through-processing banking solutions from Sword FircoSoft.
In addition, the Group’s services portfolio has successfully evolved into a leading player in the information management marketplace, working closely with international partners including Microsoft and Google.
Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners is a leading private equity firm based in Boston, MA who focuses on identifying and obtaining substantial ownership positions in large growth-oriented companies where they can add managerial and strategic expertise to create value for their partners. As one of the oldest and most successful private equity firms, Thomas H. Lee Partners has raised approximately $22 billion of equity capital and invested in more than 100 businesses with an aggregate purchase price of more than $125 billion. THL seeks to build companies of lasting value while generating superior returns for their investors and operating partners.