MarshBerry: Deal pricing to stay strong in 2024 but unlikely to go higher

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Competition among consolidators supported insurance distribution deal prices in 2023 with ongoing demand likely to keep it robust this year, M&A specialist MarshBerry has calculated.

The firm, known as Imas before being bought out last year, revealed in its annual market report that there were 148 deals in 2023, taking volume back to the record set in 2021.

However, another record number – 89 – of smaller deals with a price of less than £5m drove total M&A value down 8% year-on-year to £3.9bn.

According to the experts, valuations with ‘teens’ multiples were still achievable but they warned the devil was in the detail with structures shifting.

Buyers are becoming “more

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