Nexus Group completes acquisition and eyes more with £16m capital raise

Nexus Group has completed the acquisition of Capital Risks MGA Limited (CRML), a London based Warranty and Indemnity MGA.

CRML was launched by Nathan Sewell and Jason Edwards in August 2017 to provide transaction liability insurance for small and medium sized deals.

The CRML underwriting team, comprising Angus Ogg and Richard Mills, will continue with the business and move into Nexus’ London headquarters.

Sewell will remain on the CRML board as a non-executive director.

Post-transaction the business will be rebranded and trade as Nexus Transactional Risks.

Nexus will appoint group chief executive Colin Thompson and a number of other directors to the CRML board. 

Ogg holds the role of underwriting director and has over 35 years of experience in the London market, having previously held senior positions at both insurers and MGAs. Mills is an associate underwriter and lawyer; prior to joining CRML in 2018 he spent four years working on M&A transactions at City law firms.

Capital raise

Nexus has also successfully concluded a second capital raise totalling £16m that will enable it to further continue its merger and acquisition activity.

B.P. Marsh & Partners Plc, the niche venture capital provider to early stage financial services businesses, has provided Nexus, in which it holds an 18.5% shareholding, a £2m revolving credit facility, as part of the £16m capital fund raising exercise. The further £14m came through undisclosed sources.

Clearwater International were Nexus’ corporate advisers for the capital raising.

Colin Thompson, Nexus founder and group chief executive, said: “This is an excellent opportunity for Nexus to further diversify into a growing product area with traditionally high barriers to entry through the acquisition of an MGA with highly attractive underwriting margins.

“Focussing on small and medium sized deals, CRML is a complementary fit with our existing FinPro book, which was the first class we launched in 2008 and now produces gross written premium of £50m.

“We see a number of exciting cross selling opportunities across our FinPro client base which we will look to exploit via our comprehensive product suite, infrastructure and distribution channels - always with a focus on underwriting profitability.”

The acquisition of CRML marks Nexus’ 15^th acquisition and second in a week.

Ogg said: “We are delighted with the acquisition by Nexus which will bring new opportunities to CRML and will increase our scope in terms of capacity and geography.

“We are very much looking forward to the next stage of development, growing our team and working with the like-minded individuals at Nexus.”