After completing a year of strong growth in 2022, APRIL finalizes its financing round and opens a new page in its history with its new strategic partner and majority shareholder, KKR

APRIL announces that it has closed its financing round with its new shareholders, led by the investment fund KKR. APRIL's management team is also joining forces with four major French investors and opens up the capital to its employees to create a long-term minority group. This step opens a new phase for the group, which has great ambitions in all its markets in France and worldwide.

After a successful first phase of transformation with CVC, APRIL has set a new roadmap aiming to:

• Accelerate its development on the markets of loan insurance, health & personal protection, Property & Casualty niche markets, international health insurance and wealth management,
• Amplify its digitalization for the benefit of its broker partners and policyholders,
• Improving the customer experience across all its activities,
• Accelerate its acquisition drive, in France and internationally.

To support this new stage of growth and give itself the means to become a global player, APRIL Group has teamed up with KKR, a leading international investment firm, which has mobilized its long-term fund with an investment horizon of 8/10 years.

Creation of a minority shareholder group combining management, APRIL employees and long-term investors

At the same time, the APRIL Executive has decided to create a long-term minority shareholder group to help perpetuate the success of a company that is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year:

• Having transformed the group over the past three years, APRIL Management has invested significantly in the company’s capital:
• Renowned investors, whose activity is to directly invest in entrepreneurial projects, came on board:
  • Arkea, a subsidiary of Crédit Mutuel Arkea, banking and financial services group, which has accompanied the APRIL Executive since 2019;
  • Burrus Group, specialised in insurance brokerage, financial management and technology;
  • Evolem, family office of APRIL founder, Bruno Rousset;
  • Téthys Invest, investment holding of the Bettencourt Meyers family.
     
• Lastly, APRIL is planning to open up its capital to all group employees, through a company  investment fund that will be created in the next few months.

 “We want to perpetuate APRIL's success story and make it an independent company on a global level. To support these strong ambitions, we have chosen to partner with the international investment fund KKR, the Executive team, investors who are committed to supporting the company’s management on a long-term basis, and our employees, to whom we will offer the opportunity to invest in equity. We are delighted that Arkéa Group and the investment holdings of the Bettencourt Meyers, Burrus and Rousset families have decided to join us,” said Eric Maumy, President & CEO of the APRIL Group.

 

Key events

In 2022, APRIL Group surpassed its objectives, with growth of 9% and turnover of €590 million

The group recorded solid organic growth:

• In health / personal protection / loan insurance, which represents 60% of its turnover:

For loan insurance: APRIL, which has worked to support the opening-up of this market, benefited from the implementation of the Lemoine Law, which progressively entered into force first in June, then September. The Group’s production doubled, benefiting its broker partners and policyholders. APRIL expects this trend to continue and believes that alternative actors will represent 20% of the loan insurance market in four years’ time (vs. 12% today).

For health / personal protection: In 2022, APRIL recorded growth of 13% in personal health and 14% in health / personal protection for professionals / VSBs, thanks to excellent progress in the digital sphere via its e-commerce site april.fr and the launch of its app APRIL Santé Prévoyance, which has already been downloaded over 100,000 times.

• In international health, i.e. expatriate health, which represents 12% of turnover

For nearly three years now, the international health market has been developing, with expatriates (approximately 50 million people around the world) seeking better health coverage. APRIL offers multi-award-winning insurance solutions and digital services, in particular its app Easyclaim, which was created in response to the growing need for close customer support. At the end of 2022, it opened two new offices, in Cologne, Germany and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Present in 18 countries and benefiting from double-digit growth on this market, the group is continuing to expand internationally, with new developments and external growth operations, namely in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

• In niche casualty insurance (motorbike, construction, leisure) which represents 28% of its turnover

Thanks to its development strategy, based around specific niches and via business lines APRIL Marine, APRIL Moto and APRIL Construction, the group has recorded double-digit growth in these markets.

To achieve this, APRIL relied on an ecosystem-based approach and developed cutting-edge digital solutions (redesigning the website april-marine.com and the entire Construction subscription pathway).

In 2022, the group also undertook two external growth operations:

• Acquisition of A+ Insurance, managing general underwriter (MGU) and international health specialist, based in Hong Kong with policyholders throughout Asia: with A+ Insurance, APRIL has increased its presence in South-East Asia and rounded off its portfolio with a range of well-positioned health insurance products;
• Acquisition of Magnacarta, key French property management actor for the past 25 years, with over 20,000 customers and nearly €2.5 billion of assets under management. With this move, APRIL has re-entered the property management market, which presents strong growth and offers development possibilities that are complementary to insurance brokerage.

In 2023, APRIL Group aims to accelerate its organic growth and will continue its acquisition dynamic, in France and internationally, particularly in the Damages and IPMI markets.
 

Key figures for APRIL in 2022

• Growth = +9% = +3 pts more than our year objectives set in 2020, +1 pt vs. 2021
• Turnover of €590 million
• Increase of nearly 20 NPS points in 3 years
• 18% of turnover recorded outside of France

400 recruitments in 2022 – 2,400 employees around the world today