TRANSACTION SUMMARY

On 25 March 2025, Howden Group Holdings (“Howden”), the global insurance and employee benefits intermediary group, announced it had signed a binding agreement for the acquisition of Barnett Waddingham LLP, a leading independent UK professional services consultancy across risk, pensions, investment and insurance.

The combination with Howden brings together two leading businesses with an exceptional cultural fit and alignment, and strengthens Barnett Waddingham’s ability to deliver greater value to risk, pensions, investment and insurance clients through enhanced solutions, including tech-enabled capabilities, and access to global expertise.

Barnett Waddingham’s extensive pensions expertise, together with Howden’s market leading presence in the health and employee benefits market, creates a full-service proposition and the largest independent pensions and employee benefits consultancy in the UK, together with one of the most extensive global footprints in the market providing a platform for further expansion. The combined business will offer the full range of employee benefits and pensions advisory services to corporate clients, from multinational corporations to SMEs and in the private and public sectors, and will also provide health, life and specialist pension products to individuals.

BARNETT WADDINGHAM

Barnett Waddingham is a leading UK consultancy at the forefront of risk, pensions, investment, and insurance, and acts as a trusted partner for a wide range of clients in both the private and public sectors – this includes 22% of FTSE 100 and 15% of FTSE 350 companies. 

Barnett Waddingham comprises over 1,790 people, 99 of whom are partners, based across ten offices nationwide: Amersham, Birmingham, Bristol, Cheltenham, Glasgow, Guildford, Leeds, Liverpool, London, and Manchester. For the year ended May 2024, Barnett Waddingham reported revenue of c £160m, reflecting a sustained trajectory of organic growth averaging 12% p.a. over the past three years and 11% p.a. over the past decade.

HOWDEN

Howden is a global insurance intermediary group with employee ownership at its heart. Founded in 1994, it provides insurance broking, reinsurance broking and underwriting services and solutions to clients ranging from individuals to the largest multinational companies.

The group operates in 55 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, the USA, Australia and New Zealand, employing 20,000 people and handling $42bn of premium on behalf of clients.

ROLE

SHP acted as financial adviser to Barnett Waddingham.