Liva Partners, an Irish co-founded insurance broker for M&A and litigation insurance solutions, has sold a minority stake in the business to Germany firm Ecclesia in a multi-million euro deal.
No financial details of have been disclosed but given the market size, industry experts estimate the transaction to be worth at least eight figures.
Ecclesia is Germany’s largest commercial insurance broker with more than €300 million in annual turnover and over 2,000 employees.
Co-founded in 2018 by Cork man Alan Hands, London-based Liva is highly active in M&A deals locally, having worked on Irish transactions totalling more than €2 billion over the last two years. It it particularly active across renewable energy deals.
Liva provides a range of M&A insurance services, including warranty and indemnity, tax, title, environmental, litigation, intellectual property and contingent risk insurance.
"The Ecclesia Group has been targeting the M&A insurance sector for some time. With the investment in Liva, we join up with one of Europe's top tier specialists in the area and look forward to growing the business with them and providing our existing clients with the best service possible," said managing director Jochen Körner.
Entrepreneurship runs in Mr Hands's family with his father Paul previously founding and leading Cork-headquartered software company Qumas, which was acquired by US giant Accelrys (now Biovia) for $50 million (€41.4 million) in 2013.
“We are really pleased to be joining forces with a well-established partner in Ecclesia. They will provide a platform for our next stage of growth and they share our vision of providing an excellent service to the M&A community,” said Mr Hands.
“Through our partnership, we will continue to expand and bring our unparalleled offering to new clients in new jurisdictions,” he added.
