Yellow Hive makes significant move into German market with acquisition of FVB

Poortugaal, 29 October 2024 – Yellow Hive, the parent company of You Sure, Felixx.® werk & inkomen, Yinco and several other speciality insurance broker brands, takes a significant first step into the German market. The insurance broker and employee benefits advisory organisation announces the acquisition of the German insurance broker FVB, specialised in brokering personal and commercial lines insurances and financial investment products, from HDI Deutschland AG. With the acquisition of FVB, Yellow Hive enters the German market and achieves full national coverage in both Germany and the Netherlands. The structure and management of FVB will largely remain unchanged and its founder, Thomas Schallenberg, will support Yellow Hive Germany as an advisor after closing. Closing is anticipated year-end and subject to German merger clearance. The transaction is intended to boost the growth and further development of Yellow Hive and FVB in Germany, both organically and through further add-on acquisitions.

IK Partners has made IK SO I funding available in cooperation with three main investors: AlpInvest, TPG GP Solutions and Pantheon. IK Partners earlier provided a capital injection for Yellow Hive in 2020. Yellow Hive reached its targets within three years of the five-year plan, clearing the way for the new investment, which closed on April 25.

Yellow Hive will use this new capital to finance organic growth and make acquisitions. In the Netherlands, this is likely to be via Managing General Agents (“MGAs”), placing brokers, insurance brokers and pension advisory agencies. The focus will primarily be on companies that bring added value to the existing range of products and services, focused on growth in niche markets and/or companies that have a presence in specific Dutch regions, says Ger Knikman, CEO Yellow Hive.

Knikman also sees further opportunities for organic growth within the Yellow Hive platform by creating synergy between the labels and developing new products and services. Having a greater scale of available expertise and a presence in specific niche markets will allow Yellow Hive to offer better services to its customers while investing in digitalization and automation to promote ease of use. The company aims to structurally reach a top 5 position in The Netherlands within one year.

European expansion

In addition, the new investment will be targeted to continue the company’s successful European growth strategy, with a primary focus on Germany, Spain and Belgium. Yellow Hive aims to acquire local service providers, MGAs and insurance brokers in both regular and niche markets in these three territories in the coming years.

Ger Knikman: “This investment will enable us to further roll out our buy & build strategy in Germany, Spain and Belgium and strengthen our position in the Netherlands as a trend-setting financial advisory group. We are extremely fortunate to have investors who believe in us and our ambitious growth targets.”

5 min 30 Oct 2024, 15:00 Written by: Yellow Hive