Baldwin Group agrees to a 7.7 billion dollar take-private led by Michael Dell's DFO and Sequence
The Baldwin Group, a Tampa insurance brokerage, has signed a definitive agreement to be taken private by an entity formed by Sequence Holdings and DFO Management, the investment firm of Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, in an all-cash deal of 7.7 billion dollars. Under the agreement shareholders receive 32.50 dollars a share in cash, and the companies plan to close in the first quarter of 2027. The Financial Times had reported advanced talks on Sunday, when Baldwin was valued at about 4.14 billion dollars.
Economics & Markets··Midday
An all-cash 7.7 billion dollar agreement signed on Monday
The Baldwin Group, an insurance brokerage based in Tampa, Florida, said on Monday that it had entered a definitive agreement to become a privately held company. An entity formed by Sequence Holdings and DFO Management, the firm that manages the investment assets of Dell Technologies founder, chairman and chief executive Michael Dell, pays an all-cash sum of 7.7 billion dollars for a majority interest, and Baldwin continues as a wholly owned subsidiary of the new parent. Baldwin shareholders receive 32.50 dollars in cash for each share, while eligible holders roll part of their holdings into the private company. The purchase price consists of about 4.6 billion dollars in equity and about 3.1 billion dollars of net debt to be assumed or refinanced, and the companies plan to close the deal in the first quarter of 2027.[1]
Employees keep a minority stake as the pace of technology spending changes
After the deal, Baldwin said, its eligible employees retain a significant minority equity stake alongside Sequence and DFO. Chief executive Trevor Baldwin said in a statement that the company keeps its vision and strategy and changes only the pace of its investments in talent and technology, adding that moving faster on AI sharpens what it delivers for clients. Sequence chief executive Michael J. Lee said the firm wants to rebuild workflows, products and services around what technology now makes possible, and Michael Dell said DFO invests with the patience of permanent capital rather than as a fund working against a fixed exit clock.[1]
From Sunday's report of talks to Monday's signed deal
The agreement follows a Financial Times report on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter, that DFO Management was in advanced talks to take The Baldwin Insurance Group private at a premium; Baldwin was valued at around 4.14 billion dollars according to LSEG data cited by Reuters, which said it could not immediately verify the report. Neither Baldwin nor DFO responded to requests for comment outside business hours. The report placed the deal in a historically fragmented insurance-broking industry going through a wave of consolidation, and in the early hours of Monday the Financial Times updated its headline to a 7.7 billion dollar deal led by DFO together with Sequence, a figure absent from the earlier report. Baldwin's Monday announcement put the value of the transaction at that same 7.7 billion dollars.[2], [1]
