Diot-Siaci announces new ownership structure with Ardian, the Burrus Group and management

The Diot-Siaci Group, an independent European leader in corporate insurance brokerage, and Ardian, a world-leading private investment firm, announce the signing of a definitive agreement after exclusive negotiations regarding the Group’s new ownership structure. Upon completion of the transaction, Ardian will become Diot-Siaci’s lead financial shareholder, alongside the Burrus Group, a long-standing shareholder, and the management team. The new capital structure will establish joint control governance between Ardian and the Burrus Group.
As a long-standing shareholder of the Group since 2015, Ardian is now increasing its stake in Diot-Siaci to become its main financial shareholder by acquiring the shares held by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers’), Bpifrance, Cathay Capital and other minority shareholders.
A reinforced ambition: international growth and market consolidation
Building on their shared history and renewed mutual trust, Diot-Siaci’s management team is demonstrating its full commitment to the transaction through a significant reinvestment in the company’s capital. The management team welcomes Ardian’s full support in accelerating Diot-Siaci’s growth, particularly in major industrial risks, marine insurance, personal insurance, human resources consulting, credit insurance, international mobility, and reinsurance across its key markets in Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
With this transaction, the Group reinforces its global capabilities and strengthens its position among the world’s leading industry players. Diot-Siaci’s dynamism, combined with Ardian’s expertise, will help bolster the Group’s long-term growth trajectory.
Ardian and the Burrus Group will jointly control the company to support Diot-Siaci as it enters a new phase of development
The new capital structure is accompanied by the establishment of joint control governance between Ardian and the Burrus Group, which aims to support this ambitious new phase of growth.
The Group will continue to be Co-Chaired by Pierre Donnersberg and Christian Burrus, and led by Cédric Charpentier, Chief Executive Officer.
This transaction remains subject to approval by the relevant regulatory and competition authorities.
“We are thrilled to be joining forces with the Burrus Group, Pierre Donnersberg and the entire management team led by Cédric Charpentier to support Diot-Siaci in the next stage of its development. Together, we have ambitious plans to make Diot-Siaci the leading independent insurance and reinsurance brokerage group with European roots.”
● THIBAULT BASQUIN ● CO-HEAD & CIO OF BUYOUT AND MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, ARDIAN
“In addition to the commitment from our Buyout fund, we have successfully raised more than €700 million in less than two months from institutional partners to co-invest in this deal, including several sovereign wealth funds and international investors. This demonstrates the confidence of these leading investors in Ardian’s ability to support blue-chip companies in their ambitious growth strategies.”
● OLIVIER PERSONNAZ ● MANAGING DIRECTOR AND HEAD OF BUYOUT EQUITY CAPITAL MARKETS, BUYOUT, ARDIAN
In this regard, Mubadala is renewing its confidence in the Group by increasing its investment alongside Ardian.
“Diot-Siaci is a company we know intimately, and whose entrepreneurial vision and long-term ambitions we fully share. In a sector undergoing major reorganization, Diot-Siaci has all the assets to play a leading role in the consolidation of the sector.”
● EDOUARD LEVEL ● DIRECTOR, BUYOUT, ARDIAN
“We’re proud to have supported Diot-Siaci following the merger between Siaci Saint Honoré and Diot four years ago. Since our entry in 2021, its revenues have multiplied by 1.6 times to reach EUR1 billion and, today we can say Diot-Siaci is a leader in the European corporate insurance broker market which we have helped expand into Middle East and Africa. It is another great example of our partnership with management teams in our financial and insurance services portfolio of investments, where we have a demonstrated track record of success over the last three decades.”
● INAKI ECHAVE ● HEAD OF EMEA PRIVATE CAPITAL, ONTARIO TEACHERS’
“Ardian’s arrival in our capital demonstrates the market’s confidence in the continued development of our Group and its teams, and will enable us to pursue our strategy of strong international growth.”
● CÉDRIC CHARPENTIER ● CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, DIOT-SIACI
“This new shareholding structure gives us the means to go even further and continue our growth in high-potential areas of the world.”
● PIERRE DONNERSBERG & CHRISTIAN BURRUS ● CO-CHAIRS, DIOT-SIACI
 
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Ardian:
Thibault Basquin, Olivier Personnaz, Edouard Level, Jean-Baptiste Hunaut, Claire Chavaillard, Jack Czapalski, Martin Blanc, Gregory Buscayret, Juliette Cassan, François-Aïssa Touazi, Helen Lee-Bouygues, Aris Toranian, Jason Yao, Isabelle Fan, Colin Wang, Andy Wu, Mengqi Zhao

Ardian advisors:
M&A advisor: Evercore (Charles Andrez, Raoul Mansour, Charlotte Lefort, Adrien Prothery)
Commercial and Operational Due diligence: BCG (Jean-Christophe Gard, Benjamin Entraygues, Nadine Moore, Florian Vergnaud, Jocelyn Lescouezec)
IT Due diligence: BCG (Philippe Savary, Bastien Goetschel)
Financial Due diligence: PwC (Céline Appel, François-Xavier Bornet, Amine Mimita, Salah Ben Kacem, Arthur Couderc, Jules Passemard, Rayanne Manfoumby)
Legal Due diligence: PwC (Eric Hickel, Olesya Monegier du Sorbier, Maximilien Jatteau, Lucie Jacquesy)
Social Due diligence: PwC (Aurélie Cluzel-d’Andlau, Fanny Marchiset)
Tax Due diligence: PwC (Caroline Chaize-Lang, Sarah Dezes, Emma Stearns)
Legal advisor: Weil Gotshal & Manges – M&A/PE Practice (David Aknin, Pierre-Alexandre Kahn, Romain Letard, Messan Dogbevi, Floriane Egraz), Banking & Finance Practice (Tom Richards, Tanya Jain, Kai Zhang, Ashley Ken), Tax Practice (Edouard de Lamy, Axelle Trintignac), Antitrust Practice (Marc Lordonnois, Martin Ellie, Ornella Polito)

Ontario Teachers’:
Ontario Teachers’ investment team: Francois Stoessel, Julia Codron-Konieczny, Hechmi Kilani
Financial: Morgan Stanley (David Benichou, Thomas Denizeau, Fabien Marchese)
Legal: M&A/PE (Gaëtan Gianasso, Julia Lefevre, Blaise Olympio), Banking & Finance (Aurelien Lorenzi), Tax (Xavier Renard, Hugo Matricon), Antitrust (Mathilde Saltiel)

Bpifrance Investissement:
Stephen Fargis, Aurélien Auvray, François de Forton

Diot-Siaci advisors :
M&A advisors: Messier (Jeremy Langlois), NewCo (Jean-Louis Duverney-Guichard)
Financial Due diligence: 8Advisory (Guillaume Catoire)
Commercial Due diligence: Roland Berger (Christophe Angoulvant, Alain le Pomellec)
Legal, Social, Tax, IT / IP Due diligence: EY (Géraldine Roch, Sandrine Lèbre, Vincent Natier, Cédric Lantonnois van Rode, Sandrine Cullaffroz)
Financing advice: Malborough Partners (Benjamin Weyl, Alexandre von Rakowski)
Legal advice: Scotto & Partners (Adrien Badelon, Coralie Oger, Emilie Renaud, Alban Tourneux), Valther (Bruno Fiacre, Adina Mihaescu), Mayer Brown (Benjamin Homo), Orrick (Laurent Olleon), Freshfields (Stéphanie Corbières, Marie Roche, Petya Katsarska, Jérôme Philippe)