Steadfast spent thirty years rolling up brokers. Its buyers just unrolled it.
A 52 per cent premium, a unanimous board, and a company divided between its buyers before the ink dried. The roll-up worked. It just isn't arriving intact.
The first thing Steadfast's new owners will do with Australia's largest insurance broker network is take it apart. Steadfast Group agreed on Friday to a A$7.7 billion (US$5.5 billion) take-private by Starboard BidCo, a vehicle backed by KKR and Dragoneer Investment Group, at A$6.00 a share in cash, a premium of almost 52 per cent to the last close before the consortium's approach surfaced in June, Reuters reports. At completion the company splits in two: Amwins, the US specialty distributor, takes the underwriting agencies, and Dragoneer takes the broking business. The board has unanimously recommended the scheme, subject to an independent expert's blessing and the absence of a better offer.
