Howden to make major UK acquisition to form new ‘global force in employee benefits’

Howden has agreed to acquire Barnett Waddingham as it looks to create a ”new global force in employee benefits”.

Based in London, Barnett Waddingham is a professional services consultancy across risk, pensions, investment and insurance.

Through the deal, Howden aims to expand pension and related investment and risk services for clients in global markets.

The combined business will offer a range of employee benefits and pensions advisory services to corporate clients, from multinational corporations to SMEs in the private and public sectors.

Health, life and specialist pension products will also be offered to individuals.

David Howden, chief executive at Howden, said: “In our journey to build a global broker, we recognise the need to create a world-class employee benefits business for our clients. As we always do, we have waited for the right partner to expand our capabilities, with experts who are entrepreneurial and culturally aligned and with whom we can do more together.

“Barnett Waddingham’s people have this in abundance. Together, we will take a leading position in our home markets of the UK and Ireland in employee benefits, as well as in insurance broking.”

Employee growth

The acquisition will also double Howden’s global employee benefits business in terms of employees, with approximately 4,000 experts delivering combined revenue approaching £500m around the world.

And across the group, Howden will employ over 10,000 people in the UK across more than 200 locations following completion of the deal.

“In the UK, there will be over 10,000 of us in our wider business, across more than 200 offices,” Howden said.

“We’re serving millions of individuals, businesses and organisations, including over two thirds of the FTSE 100, bringing the same unique energy and approach to all our clients.”

Andrew Vaughan, senior partner at Barnett Waddingham, added: “We’re really excited to join Howden because of its commitment to the UK market and its unique culture.

“Being part of Howden also strengthens our ability to deliver even greater value to our risk, pensions, investment and insurance clients through enhanced solutions, including our tech-enabled capabilities, and access to global expertise.”