Liberty Co. Brokers Secures $340M in Funding for Refinance, More Growth

Florida-based The Liberty Company, one of the largest property/casualty insurance brokers in the country, announced it had secured $340 million in loans to refinance debt and fuel new growth opportunities.

The funding, from J.P. Morgan, Fifth Third Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and four others, is something of a cherry on top of two years of unparalleled growth for the broker: It managed some three dozen acquisitions in 2022 and a 47% organic growth rate.

Both of those helped pump revenue to $149 million for the year, a three-fold increase over the previous year, the privately held company said in a news release Thursday.

OPTIS Partners, which tracks broker and agency mergers and acquisitions, had Liberty as eighth on its list of the top 20 buyers in 2022, just behind BroadStreet Partners and World Insurance Associates. OPTIS indicated Liberty completed 33 acquisitions last year. The reason for the difference in the totals was not clear.

Either way, it was about three times as many mergers as Liberty executed in 2021, and far more than in previous years. Industry-wide, some 987 agency acquisitions took place, the OPTIS report shows.

The pace of growth for Liberty may continue, Liberty founder and CEO Bill Johnson said in the release.

“In addition to M&A activity, Liberty intends to use this capital to continue to build out its resources to drive more organic growth though its practice groups and industry specializations, MGA/program offerings, employee benefit and human capital management resources, risk management services and other initiatives,” the company said.

Liberty said it has maintained a low debt ratio, keeping its borrowing costs at a minimum. The firm, founded in 1987. It has headquarters in Gainesville, Florida, and is licensed in all 50 states.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Agencies

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