Sir Jeremy Darroch, Reckitt chairman and former ceo of Sky, is in advanced negotiations for replacing Howden president Dominic Collins. The company is working with Morgan Stanley on the launch of a capital increase worth billion of GBPs for reducing its debt and finance its growth.
Howden Group, a British insurance broker is in advanced talks to appoint Sir Jeremy Darroch as the group’s new chairman in replacement of Dominic Collins with the task of steering the company through a further major round of fresh capital raising from private equity investors ahead of an IPO.
Howden belongs to General Atlantic (22.4% since 2013), Caisse du Depot et Placement du Quebec (22.4% since 2018) and HG Capital (22.4% since 2021) while the ceo and founder David Howden and its 5.300 workers own 32.8% (Sky News, Bloomberg).
Darroch is the chairman of FTSE 100 firm Reckitt since May 2024 and acts as director of The Walt Disney Company and KKR executive advisor. The manager previously headed Sky (2007 – 2021) after having joined the company as cfo in 2004 and worked as director of Burberry and Marks & Spencer.
Howden may list in 2030 once reached an enterprise value of 50 billion GBPs. The group’s most recent valuation, based on an internal share sale in 2024, amounted to 10 billion GBPs, Bloomberg reported.
Howden is reportedly working with Morgan Stanley for raising fresh billion of GBPs from sovereign wealth funds and international pension funds that may help to finance the next phase of development and, above all, to reduce the debt that supported the firm’s 250 acquisitions over the last five years.
On 6 August, Thursday, S&P Global Ratings downgraded Howden from B to B-, stable outlook, due to higher-than-expected leverage and weaker cash flows, partly linked to the costs of the rapid expansion in US retail broking. The rating agency calculated an adjusted leverage ratio of around 22.5X in 2025 and forecasts it to remain at around 21X in 2026 before falling to 11.5–12X in 2027. This metric is much stricter than Howden’s. The company reported a total net gearing of 6.5X in 1Q26, mainly because S&P does not recognise a significant portion of the add-backs relating to exceptional costs incurred for its US expansion. In July 2026, Howden said to Bloomberg that senior debt leverage stood at 5.1X earnings at the end of 1Q26, at the upper end of the company’s target range (between 4 and 5X earnings), adding that the aim was to bring it down to 3–4 times ahead of the listing.
On 15 December 2025, Howden announced a 3 billion US Dollars debt repricing and concurrent upsize for its Term Loan B in US Dollars (press release). On 5 February, Thursday, the company placed secured bonds of 690 million US Dollars maturing in 2032 (press release).
At the end of 2025, Howden posted adjusted sales of 3.5 billion GBPs (Sustainability Report, +23% from 3.01 billion on 2024) with an adjusted ebitda of 922.2 million, or a 31% margin (press release).
Howden himself explained to Bloomberg that, having acquired companies in numerous countries, the priority is now to carry on an effective integration. This transition that will play a key role in creating value ahead of the IPO: less simple accumulation of assets and more operational integration, organic growth, restoration of cash flow and reduction of leverage.
Howden reportedly considered acquiring Risk Strategies for around 10 billion US dollars, but the deal fell through. The group therefore adopted a strategy of recruiting teams on a massive scale from its competitors and increased its US workforce by over a thousand people in just a few months. In August 2025, the company appointed Mike Parrish as US ceo and Jim Hays as vice chairman di Howden Group Holdings with the aim of establishing a major new hub in the US retail broking sector (press release). On 5 January, Monday, Howden announced the acquisition of Atlantic Global Risk, a broker with a focus on transactional liability whose founders and majority of the staff will become Howden shareholders (press release). However, this expansion has led to high costs and disputes with some competitors, contributing precisely to the squeeze on margins that S&P cited as one of the reasons for the downgrade.
EMEA ceo Luigi Sturani reportedly said that Italy is Howden’s second-largest European market after the United Kingdom. Sturani’s appointment is part of the international reorganisation that Howden announced on 16 March, Monday (press release).
Howden acquired Italian competitors Andrea Scagliarini (2021 press release), Tower (see here a previous post by BeBeez), Nord Est Insurance Broker, and ASI Insurance Broker (see here a previous post by BeBeez). In 2022, Howden delisted Assiteca from Milan market (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Howden also purchased Italian Assimovie (press release) and Wide Care Services (see here a previous post by BeBeez)
In 2023, Howden Italia generated revenue of 108 million euros, up 15.5%, with an EBITDA of 19.3 million, and already set a target of 190 million by 2027, partly through new acquisitions (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Sturani forecasted revenue of over 160 million euros for 2025, with an organic growth of 11% and an EBITDA up by 27%. Howden currently employs around 900 people in Italy and has a presence in 22 cities.
Federico Casini is the chairman of Howden Italy while Gabriele Giacoma and Alberto Carrara are the co-ceos and respectively head the distribution and markets & solutions, Il Sole 24 Ore reported.
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