Kereis France
Private Equity Manager (GP)
Advent International
Details
Region
Europe
Sector
Financial Services
Stage
Medium buyout
Type
Co-investment
Vintage
2025
Highlights
Commitment
£5.4m
What Kereis France does
Kereis France is a leading French insurance broker based in Paris.
It operates a tech-enabled, multi-product platform serving banks, insurers, retail brokers, and SMEs. With strong recurring revenue and a growing footprint, it plays a key role in the French insurance ecosystem.
Why we invested
PIN backed Kereis France for its strong fundamentals, defensive income, and clear growth potential.
Key drivers:
- Recurring revenue model: Income is primarily commission-based, tied to long-term insurance policies—especially mortgage-linked contracts—creating visibility and stability.
- Lower sensitivity to new mortgage volumes: Most revenue stems from the existing policy book, not new originations, reducing exposure to credit cycles.
- Market leadership and embedded relationships: Kereis France leads the French Housing Credit Insurance (HCI) market and holds deep integrations with major financial institutions, making it difficult to displace.
- Diversified growth pathway: Expansion into wholesale and direct brokerage has lowered reliance on HCI and opened new growth channels.
- Buy-and-build opportunity: A fragmented market presents acquisition opportunities. The company has a proven M&A track record and a clear pipeline, especially in brokerage.
- Operational upside beyond M&A: Planned gains from automation, cross-sell, process standardisation, and tech enablement add further value beyond M&A.
Our partnership with Advent International
PIN has a long-standing relationship with Advent International (“Advent”), a global private equity firm founded in 1984. PIN has invested across multiple Advent funds and continues to support its platform-building approach with Kereis France.
Active management and value creation
Advent’s plan is to grow Kereis France into a broader, higher-growth platform with a decreasing reliance on HCI as other segments scale.
Key levers:
- Targeted M&A-led diversification: Bolt-ons in wholesale and direct brokerage.
- Efficiency improvements: Automation/AI, nearshoring, and overhead reduction.
- Scaling brokerage activities: Broker onboarding, product expansion, and cross-sell initiatives.
- Technology integration and modernisation: Consolidate platforms and phase out legacy systems.
- Leadership strengthening: Reinforce the management team and add specialist advisors to support execution.
