Arachas

Arachas was established in 2004. The business had grown rapidly through a number of acquisitions and wanted to step up its pace of growth.

The management team, keen to do an MBO and develop through further acquisitions, wanted an investment partner that could support these ambitions. Sovereign was able to deliver a transaction which met the different objectives of the individual shareholders and the management team. In tandem, a number of the shareholders of Arachas, who were not involved in the day-to-day management of the business, wanted to take a step back and realise the value that had been created in the business.

Buy & build: 4 highly strategic follow-on acquisitions made

Grew EBITDA c.3x in 27 months

Became the leading commercial lines insurance broker in Ireland, supported by cutting-edge data analytics capability

Within six months of Sovereign backing the MBO, Arachas was able to make its first acquisition, Capital Cover Group, a long-established insurance broker that brought a complementary product set to Arachas.

Later that year Kidd Insurances, one of Ireland's longest established insurance brokers serving both the retail customer and broker community with its specialist affinity insurance product range, was acquired. In June 2018, Covercentre, a wholesale insurance broker that offers specialist property and commercial vehicle insurance, joined Arachas, and in July 2019 Murray & Spelman was acquired, bringing substantial additional scale to the Arachas Group and expanding its geographical footprint in the West of Ireland, a fast-expanding commercial area.

In partnership with Sovereign, the Group achieved exceptional organic and strategic growth whilst remaining focused on delivering a consistent and first-class customer experience. At exit the business employed over 240 staff and was the leading independent insurance brokerage operating in Ireland, backed by a high quality panel of insurers.