Pre-close · Insurance Brokerage

Insurance Brokerage Lease Assignments: An Independent Sponsor's Counsel

Securities and M&A counsel for independent sponsors managing insurance brokerage transactions, from LOI to close to the capital markets that open up afterward.

EV range $10M to $150M EV EBITDA $3M to $25M Audience Buy-side / Sponsor
The deal context

An independent sponsor closing insurance brokerage transactions in the $10M to $150M EV range has a defined set of moves at the Lease Assignments stage. Most of them are not in a generic M&A textbook.

The typical insurance brokerage platform sits at $10M to $150M EV with EBITDA in the $3M to $25M range. The thesis runs on regional retail agency roll-ups. Producer non-competes are unenforceable in too many states to ignore. Plan retention, not litigation.

The moves

How Lease Assignments actually gets structured.

  1. Pull every lease, estoppel, and SNDA in the data room.

  2. Identify landlord consent requirements and prepare consent packages.

  3. Address landlord recapture rights that can be triggered at change of control.

  4. Sequence consent collection to avoid a last-minute single-landlord veto.

  5. In insurance brokerage, layer in E&O tail insurance priced and bound as part of the Lease Assignments workstream.

The common mistake

Waiting until two weeks before close to request landlord consents. Landlords use the timeline against the buyer.

Jason's take
"Lease consents are the deal-killer that never makes the highlight reel. Start early, finish early."
Jason Powell · Lease Assignments
Capital after close

The deal is one thing. The capital that opens up after close is another.

The capital that opens up post-close, from refinancing to growth equity to strategic exit, runs through a small set of Wall Street relationships. That network is built in.

MONTH 18
Senior refi
MONTH 24
Dividend recap
MONTH 36
Growth equity
YEAR 4–5
Strategic exit
ENGAGE THE PRACTICE

Lease Assignments for Insurance Brokerage, on independent sponsor terms.

Independent sponsor counsel that already speaks fluent deal-by-deal economics, structures clean LPAs, and travels with capital markets relationships for what comes after close.