The First $1 Billion R&W Insurance Policy Issued – and What It Means for the Industry

It’s a landmark moment in the world of M&A. Marsh JLT, the world’s largest insurance brokerage, has announced they successfully placed the first Transactional Liability policy at a $1 Billion Dollar Limit, the largest such policy ever written. As impressive as this may seem, it’s only a matter of time before a larger policy Limit is placed on an even bigger transaction. This is just one of the many data points outlined in the Marsh JLT 2019 M&A Trends report.

The biggest takeaway is that if you have a billion-dollar deal – you need look no further than Marsh JLT. They have the resources and experience to handle these very opportunities. I’ve always believed the world needs the Mega Brokers like Marsh JLT because “someone” has to insure Disneyland! 

This is just one indication of how the benefits of transactional insurance, especially R&W insurance, is being recognized by Buyers and Sellers and made an essential part of a growing number of transactions, even for transactions going as low as under $20M.

According to Marsh JLT’s June 2019 Transactional Risk Insurance Report, which looked back at trends in this space in 2018, there are 25 firms offering this specialized type of insurance. That’s a sizeable increase from the handful offering this coverage just a few years ago.

More policies are being written as well, with Marsh JLT alone experiencing a 40% increase in policy count, from 359 in 2017 to 504 in 2018. The median transaction value for those insured deals was $135M. The size of the average R&W policy placed is about 10% of the transaction value.

Industry-wide, the number of M&A insurance policies rose for the fifth straight year, according to the Marsh JLT report, driven by strategic acquirers who are gaining confidence with this product. The number of R&W transactions conducted in this sector increased by 21% from 2017 to 2018. PE and other financial acquirers are already comfortable with this insurance, with PE being the majority users.

Of the policies written, 99%, were Buy-Side R&W, leaving only 1% as Sell-Side R&W. Buy-Side policies continue to represent the vast majority because they provide broader protection (i.e. covering Seller fraud) and because they best facilitate a “clean exit” for Sellers, with no indemnity obligation and less, if any, money held in escrow.

This allows the Seller to have most of the sales price in hand when the deal closes so they can move on to new investments or distribute funds to shareholders and investors. That’s the reason why Sellers, in many cases, are more than happy to pay for this coverage.

Looking at trends and what the future holds, it’s clear that the increase in usage of R&W is the direct result of three factors that aren’t changing anytime soon:

  • On-going price reductions from the growing number of insurers entering the M&A space. The favorable pricing environment is expected to continue into 2020. Deductibles for R&W policies are just 1% of enterprise value for most transactions. It’s just 0.75% for deals over $500M.
  • R&W insurance is increasingly being used on larger transactions as past experience has strengthened consumer confidence in the product.
  • More strategic buyers are using the product for both competitive reasons and as an accommodation to target companies. Again, both sides of the table are coming to recognize the value of this coverage.

It’s also important to note that Underwriters have more experience than ever in writing R&W and other transactional risk policies. This allows this component, including due diligence, to become a seamless part of an M&A deal.

All this is taking place with a very healthy M&A environment as the background. The Marsh report notes that global M&A activity jumped 11.5% from 2017 to 2018 to $3.5T, even as the total number of deals actually fell. That’s the fifth year in a row that deal values have topped $3T. PE firm buyout activity, meanwhile, was valued at $557B, which is the highest level in 10 years.

Expect to see increased use of R&W and other transactional risk insurance in the rest of 2019 and beyond.

The great news for specialty firms, such as Rubicon M&A, is that Marsh’s growth into the billion-dollar deal level opens a wider gap of underserved deals as there are far more sub-$135M deals out there with the exact same needs for protection and service. We’re thrilled to have Marsh JLT out there to serve the mega-deals. We’ll handle the rest!

To discuss how Representations and Warranty insurance can impact your next M&A deal, contact me, Patrick Stroth, at pstroth@rubiconins.com or 415-806-2356.

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