Howden acquires OFRACAR
Paris (France), April 3rd 2024,
Howden once again chooses Financière de Courcelles to advise on the acquisition of Ofracar, a specialist insurance broker with a strong presence in Normandy. This is Howden France’s fourth acquisition.
As one of the world’s leading independent insurance and reinsurance brokers, with over 16,500 employees and a presence in 100 countries, Howden decided to enter the French market in February 2022. Howden France has grown rapidly through strong organic growth and targeted acquisitions to become an organization of 270 employees, with offices in 12 cities. Howden France’s objective is to build a leading commercial risk brokerage throughout France, providing insurance expertise and solutions to SMEs, ETIs and large corporations, in both Property & Casualty and Employee Benefits.
Founded in 1964 and managed by Stéphane Lecomte, Ofracar is a leading B2B insurance broker in Normandy, specializing in refrigeration, property and casualty insurance, employee benefits, vehicle fleet and transport. With 84 employees in offices in Rouen, Rennes and Lyon, OFRACAR serves around 2,000 customers in Normandy and France.
This operation, following on from the acquisitions of C.R.F. Conseils, Seasecure, Théorème and GTCA – CFC Consultants, confirms Howden’s determination to accelerate its development in the French market, while considerably expanding its product offering for its customers.
Nicolas Aubert, Président Directeur Général de Howden France : “ OFRACAR has been recognized as a market leader for several decades, and with this new acquisition we welcome a talented team and integrate new offerings to broaden our expertise. Already present in Normandy with a team dedicated to the marine sector, we underline our commitment to regional development by expanding our capabilities and accelerating the delivery of Howden’s global specialist expertise to local markets for the benefit of local customers. ”
Stéphane Lecomte, Président Directeur d’Ofracar : “ Our commitment to shaping the future of all our employees led us to choose Howden as our next partner – an international broker with an entrepreneurial philosophy and ambitious growth plans in France. I’m delighted to continue OFRACAR’s 60-year heritage with our colleagues at Howden France, who share our entrepreneurial spirit and People First culture. Our unified teams are now perfectly positioned to support SMEs and ETIs in Normandy, throughout France and across Europe. ”
Luigi Sturani, PDG de Howden Europe : “ This acquisition marks an exciting next step in our growth journey, reflecting the significant expansion of our operations in France over the past two years. This expansion is testament to our patient and strategic commitment to the country. We have become a large-scale operator in all of Europe’s major insurance markets, and we continue to realize our long-standing ambition: to build the leading European broker for customers and talent by partnering with the best companies. ”
The Financière de Courcelles team is delighted to have once again supported Howden in this fourth acquisition in France. This testifies to the confidence placed in Financière de Courcelles by a world leader for its recognized expertise in the deployment of an external growth strategy in a given sector.
STAKEHOLDERS IN THE OPERATION
Howden side :
- Company : Howden France (Nicolas Aubert, Adrien Laplane) ; Howden Group Corporate Finance and Legal (Dimitri de Lamazière, Georgy Naydenov, Chris Keville)
- Financial advisor : Financière de Courcelles (Michael Petit, Charles Delbarre)
- Legal advisor : Eversheds Sutherland (Catherine Detalle, Raphael Sendowski, Maxime Auzias)
- Financial due diligence: PwC (Hervé Demoy, Baptiste Delubac, Théo Lahousse)
- IT due diligence : PwC (Philippe Weber, Hugues Renaud)
Ofracar side :
- Company : Ofracar (Stéphane Lecomte, Nicolas Lecomte, Laurent Couturier)
- Financial advisor : Deloitte Corporate Finance (Vincent Rapiau, Lucile Regnault, Kamal Nassif, Nicolas Nardelli)
- Legal advisor : CVS (Alexis Marchand, Alexandra Thil, Ornella Costa-Henriques)
- Financial due diligence : Deloitte (Vincent Rapiau, Christophe Mazaud)
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