Synex Business Performance Group has acquired Alliance Employee Benefits, a group insurance and retirement plan firm based in Drummondville and Jonquière. The transaction, carried out by the group's Synex Group Services division, brings in a premium volume of approximately $30 million annually, according to the press release announcing the transaction.
With this acquisition, Synex is fulfilling its aim to work with people from across Quebec and Canada. “The operations of the group division are mainly located in the Outaouais, Greater Montreal and Quebec City regions: This is an important breakthrough in central Quebec,” the firm says.
David Henri, President of Alliance Employee Benefits prior to the transaction, will be a minority shareholder of the company, as well as an executive and group insurance consultant. His firm's brand will remain in place.
Same values and one-stop shopping
“Alliance not only retains its local identity and brand, but it can also take advantage of the national strength of the Synex Group, to its customers’ benefit,” the Synex release.
David Henri explains his decision to sell to Synex: “In choosing Synex as our majority shareholder, we opted for a partner whose people-based values were paramount. In addition, we wanted to offer our customers a complete range of commercial and personal insurance coverage in one place.”
Deep pockets
This transaction comes on the heels of a $100 million+ equity investment in Synex by private equity firm BBH Capital Partners just days ago and the acquisition of P&C insurance broker Hope Grant Insurance. On the day of the Alliance Benefits acquisition, Yan Charbonneau, President and Chief Visionary Officer of Synex Business Performance, told Insurance Portal that he was planning further investments. He mentioned that he was in the process of securing a $200 million loan from a Canadian bank.
BBH Capital Partners’ investment certainly caught the bank’s attention. “When banks see that you have an equity partner, they look at the file very differently. The risk is qualified by how deep your partner’s pockets are, and in BBH's case, it’s pretty much infinite. The bank knows that if we need a capital infusion, it won't be a problem,” Charbonneau says.
He pointed out that Brown Brothers Harriman Private Bank, the parent company of BBH Capital Partners, has $6 trillion in assets under management. BBH Capital Partners has also expressed willingness to invest further in Synex. Charbonneau says he chose BBH precisely to make sure he would not be limited “as can happen when you're funded by an insurer or another partner.”
Even banks impose a limit per individual, Charbonneau adds. “You're not going to see a bank bet $100 million on a specific individual or group. Even BBH has to have a limit, but the people at BBH told me I certainly wouldn't reach it.”
Tsunami of acquisitions
Yan Charbonneau has been increasing his firm’s allure to investors for some time. Notably, he has built a management team dedicated to advancing his consolidation strategy. Hugo Neveu was named Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions in October 2021. Jean-Sébastien Larivière, formerly of Lussier Dale Parizeau, was promoted to President of Synex Insurance. He joined Synex in 2020 as Senior Vice President and COO.
Other key players include Sylvie Lambert, Vice President of Finance at Synex, and Sébastien Pelletier, Vice President of Insurance at Synex. Both worked at Couture Rochette & Associates, which Synex (Deslauriers & Associates) acquired in 2017. “Both Sébastien Pelletier and I have a team to deal with the tsunami of acquisitions we plan to make,” he says.
