Ace Insurance Broker known for arranging major covers for Adani Group
Market sources say Blackstone has acquired 70 per cent of Ace , set up by Raj Vinay Ajmera and Anil Arora, for over Rs 1700 crores
Though, Blackstone has majority stakes with a five year lock in period for its investment in the company, Ace’s two existing directors,Raj Vinay Ajmera and Anil Arora, will continue to run the business for some time
New Delhi: In one of the largest deal in the Indian re/insurance intermediary market, US based Blackstone, the world’s largest one, specializing in real estate, private equity, credit, life sciences, and hedge funds, has taken over a domestic re/insurance broker Ace Insurance Broker, known for arranging major covers for Adani Group.
Market sources say Blackstone has acquired 70 per cent of the firm, set up by Raj Vinay Ajmera and Anil Arora, for over Rs1700 crores.
It has not been possible to to get any confirmation from either parties on the exact details of the deal.
The acquisition has already been approved by insurance regulator, IRDAI.
Ace Insurance Brokers had achieved strong financial performance in FY 2023-24, with a revenue exceeding Rs 256 crore and an annual turnover of over Rs 3,400 crore in premiums placed. They also placed over 1,44,000 policies in FY 2024-25 and have a reported annual revenue trend of approximately 14% CAGR. It had a team size of 322 employees as on May 31, 2025.
The deal is unique in many ways for the Indian markets.
Though, Blackstone manages over $1 trillion in assets for institutional and individual investors globally and has small investments in re/insurers like Resolution Life and AIG’s Life & Retirement business, this for the first time it has bought an Indian re/insurance broker.
Though, Blackstone has majority stakes with a five year lock in period for its investment in the company, Ace’s two existing directors will continue to manage the company for some time.
Market sources indicated it is possible that Blackstone after reaping its returns, may sell back its stakes to any other entities including Ajmera and Arora.
Apparently, other private equity firms are already sensing opportunities in the exit of Blackstone from Ace, which may happen before five years, and have shown interest in picking up its stakes in the company.
“Blackstone has no intention to continue in Ace for long and would exit as soon as it gets a better deal,’’ said sources.
Blackstone Group has already invested $50 billion in India and plans to inject an additional $25 billion into the country’s economy in the years ahead, with primary focus on infrastructure, data centres, and logistics.
Indian re/insurance broking market, where almost Rs 50,000 crore of premium is placed annually, is highly skewed in terms of financials.
Though, it has today over 700 players, over 90 per cent of business is transacted by top 10 players.
However, it has seen some medium sized deals in recent times.
Recently, Indian private equity firm Edem, funded by Indian private equity firm Samara Capital, concluded its second deal by acquiring UK based UIB. Earlier it had bought over Aditya Birla Insurance brokers.
Last year, Aon plc, the second largest global reinsurer, had taken over Prabodh Thakkers’s Global Insurance Brokers (GIB) in a deal of around Rs 25o crore.
Also in the last year, French re/insurance broker Diot-Siaci had acquired a majority stake in the Indian reinsurance broker Unilight. This acquisition marked Diot-Siaci’s entry into the Indian market and was aimed at strengthening its position in Asia
Satyajit Tripathy, member, Distribution, IRDAI had said the Indian insurance broking industry is seeing increasing interest from foreign investors and players in the segment should pull up their socks to ensure governance standards are high and business ethics are maintained.
He further cautioned the insurance brokers not to adopt sharp practices to increase valuation, get listed to do business which may in the long run prove detrimental to the whole ecosystem.