NYSE-listed insurance giant swoops on IFM Investors’ My Plan Manager

afr.com:

IFM Investors’ private equity unit is getting ready to celebrate a big payday at its NDIS business My Plan Manager.

IFM Investors investment director Bora Han and head of private equity Stuart Wardman-Browne. Louise Kennerley

Street Talk can reveal IFM has agreed to sell its stake in My Plan Manager for several hundreds of millions of dollars. Fingers were pointing to Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, an insurer that is capitalised at more than $US50 billion ($78 billion) on the New York Stock Exchange, as the buyer.

Sources said IFM and AJ Gallagher agreed to terms in late August and were working their way through Foreign Investment Review Board approvals. The deal was expected to close in coming weeks.

It comes after IFM brought in boutique corporate advisory, Record Point, to hunt for a buyer as it approached its fifth anniversary on the register. It invested in the business with founder Claire Wittwer-Smith back in August 2019, cutting the cheque out of its maiden growth equity fund.

IFM deployed bolt-on acquisitions to cement My Plan Manager’s position as the largest NDIS plan management group. That includes its October acquisition of the country’s third-largest player, National Disability Support Partners.

When put together with IFM’s My Plan Manager’s 36,000 clients, the combined business expanded its client base to 50,000-odd NDIS participants. At the time, that was more than double the No.2 player, Plan Partners, which had about 20,000 clients according to Citi’s equities research analysts.

My Plan Manager’s had a target on its back since big insurance money started moving into NDIS-related businesses, usually paying eight-to-nine times earnings multiple.

Locally, NIB Holdings braved an equity capital markets drought