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On the wire
Markets EdgeHENRI IVSeptember 27, 20262 min readAd-free

MSD Partners leads $7.7B take-private of Baldwin Insurance Group

Dell family office outbid private equity for the broker platform in a rare family-office-led LBO.

Markets Edge deskMarkets Edge · Huang GoodmanSource: Insurance Business Magazine ↗
Weathered boat: two warning signsDell Technologies$DELL · filed: grew revenue 18.8% in FY2026 to $113.5BWeathered boatTrillion Score 415Fall Risk LowNext year $105.3B–$140.7B sealedCheck ▾Close ▴

What Dell Technologies filed

Grew revenue 18.8% in FY2026 to $113.5 billion, operating margin 7.2% against a 3.1% median for electronic computers, equity -2.4% of assets, and dividend per share up 3 years running. Every figure links to the filing it came from on Dell Technologies’s card. Weathered boat: two warning signs. Trillion Score 415, #37 of 45 in its field; Fall Risk Low (how it is measured).

What the house said in advance

Revenue for the fiscal year after 2026-01-30 between $105.3B and $140.7B, an 80% range sealed on 24 Sept 2026 · receipt #dea931 · graded in public by the revenue in Dell Technologies’s next annual report.

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Dell Technologies as JSON · the sealed range and calls · search another company

Figures as filed with the SEC. Ranges, scores and boats are statistical descriptions of past filings, not ratings or recommendations. Reporting, not advice.

In plain words

Family offices are now leading billion-dollar LBOs, compressing the capital advantage private equity held in mid-market insurance.

$7.7 billion
take-private of The Baldwin Insurance Group
140
agencies since 2011
23%
premium to its thirty-day volume-weighted average price
$3.1 billion
before debt assumption

MSD Partners, Michael Dell's family office, is leading a $7.7 billion take-private of The Baldwin Insurance Group, according to Financial Times reporting. The deal marks one of the largest family-office-led leveraged buyouts on record and the first billion-dollar insurance broker acquisition financed outside traditional buyout shops in eighteen months.

Baldwin, a Florida-based insurance brokerage platform that has absorbed 140 agencies since 2011, will exit public markets at a 23% premium to its thirty-day volume-weighted average price. MSD Partners structured the transaction as a consortium bid, bringing in Sixth Street Partners and The Berliner Family Office. The equity check totals $3.1 billion before debt assumption. Baldwin's existing debt stack, roughly $2.4 billion in senior notes and revolvers, will be refinanced at close.

The transaction demonstrates three shifts allocators should price. First, family offices are now competing directly with buyout funds for platforms historically reserved for KKR-scale capital. MSD Partners manages $19 billion across direct investments and credit strategies, enough dry powder to anchor LBOs without syndication. Second, insurance brokerage multiples have compressed 190 basis points since early 2023, creating entry points for patient capital willing to hold through commission-cycle volatility. Baldwin's revenue grew 19% annually from 2019 through 2023, but public market investors assigned a 10.2x EBITDA multiple at the time of MSD's offer, below the 12.1x average for publicly traded brokers. Third, the deal validates the thesis that single-family offices can move faster than private equity when regulatory approval timelines favor simplicity. MSD bypassed the typical sixty-day go-shop period by offering binding terms in the initial letter of intent.

Baldwin's value sits in its acquisition engine, not its organic growth. The company processes $480 million in annualized commissions and fees, but $310 million of that total came from agencies acquired in the past thirty-six months. The platform strategy depends on continued access to seller financing and earnout structures that keep founder-brokers motivated through integration. MSD Partners brings direct experience in roll-up economics through prior investments in environmental services and healthcare staffing, sectors with similar fragmentation and founder-operator dynamics. The playbook calls for $120 million in annual acquisition capital, enough to add twelve to sixteen brokers per year without leverage creep.

Operators and allocators should watch three events. First, Baldwin's debt refinancing, expected to close in Q2 2025, will set the cost of capital for similar insurance roll-ups and signal whether lenders still view broker platforms as defensive cash-flow assets. Second, MSD's ownership structure, whether the family office takes majority control or splits governance with co-investors, will inform how future family-office-led consortia allocate board seats and liquidity rights. Third, any management equity rollover above 40% would indicate MSD expects a longer hold period than the typical five-to-seven-year private equity horizon, changing the math on when Baldwin re-enters public markets or sells to a strategic acquirer.

The Baldwin transaction closed $2.3 billion larger than the nearest family-office-led insurance deal and represents MSD's second billion-dollar platform investment in fourteen months.

Branded by POPS4 · proof in 60 seconds
For the principal

MSD's willingness to anchor $3.1B equity checks suggests family offices can now compete for platforms traditionally reserved for mega-funds.

For the operator

Watch Baldwin's debt refinancing in Q2 for cost-of-capital signals on broker roll-ups and whether lenders still view commission streams as defensive.

For the house

Huang Goodman sees insurance brokerage multiples at 10.2x EBITDA as attractive entry for client accounts with $50M+ allocation capacity and five-year horizons.

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Sources and method
  • Primary report: Insurance Business Magazine, September 27, 2026.
  • Company figures can be checked against each filer's own reports on the boards: , .
  • Written with artificial intelligence from public sources and published without individual human review. Corrections: jenny@pops4.com.
family officeinsurancelbomsd partnersbaldwin insuranceprivate equity

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