EQT acquired a majority stake in McGill and Partners for $2 billion, buying from Warburg Pincus in a transaction that marks the Swedish firm's second major insurance broker bet in eighteen months. The deal closed Tuesday, three business days after KKR exited USI Insurance Services to Paine Schwartz Partners for a reported $17 billion, creating the largest one-week insurance brokerage M&A volume since Willis-Aon merger talks collapsed in 2021.

McGill and Partners, founded in 2019 by Steven McGill after his departure from JLT Specialty, operates fifteen offices across London, Bermuda, and Singapore with a focus on property catastrophe reinsurance and specialty placements. The firm reported $340 million in revenue for the twelve months ending September 2024, up 22% year-over-year, with EBITDA margins near 31%—roughly 600 basis points above the industry median for specialty brokers under $500 million in revenue. Warburg Pincus backed McGill's 2019 launch and will retain a minority stake estimated between 12% and 18%. EQT's infrastructure and credit arms co-invested alongside the flagship buyout fund, suggesting the firm sees McGill as a platform for both organic growth and roll-up acquisitions in the Lloyd's ecosystem.

The timing matters more than the headline valuation. Insurance brokerage has become the cleanest private equity exit in financial services—predictable revenue, minimal regulatory friction, and a fragmented seller base that allows serial consolidation without antitrust scrutiny. EQT's entrance at 5.9x revenue (assuming the $2 billion figure includes debt refinancing) comes as traditional PE holders rotate out of three-to-five-year holds into a market where strategic buyers have paused. KKR's USI exit delivered an estimated 3.1x cash-on-cash return over seven years, a figure that looks pedestrian against software multiples but reflects the asset class's new role as portfolio ballast. The acceleration in exit velocity—two deals totaling $19 billion in enterprise value within seventy-two hours—suggests private credit has made refinancing expensive enough that even high-performing assets are being sold rather than held.

Allocators should watch EQT's next twelve months for add-on acquisitions targeting Lloyd's coverholders and regional specialty brokers in the $50 million to $150 million revenue band, where EBITDA multiples remain compressed relative to McGill's entry price. The firm historically moves faster than Blackstone or Carlyle on platform builds, often completing four to six tuck-ins within eighteen months of a flagship acquisition. The USI transaction will close in Q2 2025, and if Paine Schwartz begins divesting non-core USI divisions to smooth integration, secondary buyers will emerge by late summer.

Warburg Pincus holds approximately $78 billion in active portfolio value as of year-end 2024, with financials representing 19% of NAV. The partial exit from McGill while retaining a stake is consistent with the firm's recent pattern of de-risking high-performers before Fund XIII's final close, expected in Q3 2025.