DARAG secures €260 million in funding for growth plans

Malta-based European legacy acquirer DARAG has secured an equity funding of up to €260 million to support growth plans for the business.

Aleph Capital and Crestview Partners are providing the funding, which have a strategic alliance in place for European investments, and will become shareholders alongside DARAG's existing shareholder, Keyhaven Capital Partners, through this transaction.

DARAG said the capital commitment follows a period of strategic development that includes rapid expansion in the European insurance run-off market and its plans to develop an effective platform for the build-out of its US operations.

“We have a very clear path to become a leading global legacy insurance business," said Stuart Davies, chairman of DARAG. "We have already come a long way in Europe, where we are a market leader, and will now be bringing our expertise to the United States and beyond, where we see substantial demand for skilled legacy acquirers such as DARAG. Aleph and Crestview’s significant investment will support our ambitious expansion targets and their strong track-record in the insurance sector makes them an excellent partner.”

Hugues Lepic, founder and CEO of Aleph, said: “DARAG is on an exciting trajectory in the rapidly expanding and increasingly important legacy segment of the P&C insurance industry. In the coming years we see significant opportunities to drive growth globally and we are very excited to be partnering with Keyhaven and DARAG’s management team to support the company in this next important phase of its development.”

Richard DeMartini, partner and head of financial services at Crestview Partners, added: “We believe the company has significant growth potential and is well positioned to benefit from the positive market dynamics for run-off acquirers.”

The transaction completion is subject to regulatory approvals, anticipated to be towards the end of 2018.