Exclusive: Revau launches platform for US expansion with Brazos and Twenty Mile deals

By David Bull

May 12 - (The Insurer) - Novacap's Canadian MGA business Revau has entered the U.S. with a deal to merge trucking specialist Brazos Specialty Risk Insurance and construction-focused Twenty Mile Insurance Services into its newly formed Revau Advanced Underwriting (RAU) platform.

Sources familiar with the situation said that Revau is expected to seek out further M&A targets as it looks to build its U.S. footprint through RAU.

Texas-based Brazos Specialty and Twenty Mile are expected to bring in the region of $200 million in premium to the new U.S. platform.

Brazos Specialty writes specialty trucking insurance, as well as construction and energy, partnering with independent agents and brokers to provide coverage on the paper of a wide network of carriers on an admitted and non-admitted basis.

Twenty Mile is a program manager that focuses on commercial general liability across the U.S., with a focus on commercial and residential contractors and access to A-rated carriers.

The management and teams of both MGAs will remain at the combined business and play a key role in its build-out. This includes Brazos Specialty president Tom Spitalny and Twenty Mile president Chris Polk, who is also CEO of both entities.

Revau – which was rebranded from Groupassur in 2022 – is well established in Canada, generating more than C$300 million ($214.5 million) of gross written premium in 2024 across its MGA programs.

The Quebec-based company has built its portfolio and revenue base through seven M&A transactions since 2020, as well as organically. It views itself as a tech-enabled platform, having launched Guidewire across its business as well as developed a suite of applications and middleware around it called NGIN.

Revau, which is led by president and CEO Jean-François Raymond, has an M&A strategy with a strong emphasis on integration, and is set to replicate that approach in the U.S.

The U.S. MGAs joining RAU are expected to have underwriting, claims and technology as well as culture integrated following the transaction.

The integration will involve combining the data-heavy underwriting infrastructure of Brazos Specialty and Twenty Mile with Revau’s analytics platform, said sources close to the situation, in a bid to deliver end-to-end data capability from acquisition and management to predictive modelling.

This will aim to uncover deeper insights, enable faster decisions, fuel innovation and boost efficiency, they said.

Revau is also expected to bring more than 30 carrier relationships from its Canadian platform – including with Lloyd’s – to those of the MGAs joining its new U.S. operation.

It will seek to lever those existing relationships as well as add new domestic and international carrier partners, with a strong emphasis on strategic relationships and the syndication of its capacity providers, including reinsurers.

Sources said RAU will target a broad range of commercial lines as it identifies further acquisition targets and will target a run rate as high as one acquisition a quarter once it has completed the initial integration of Brazos Specialty and Twenty Mile.

It will also identify opportunities to lift teams with established books, providing capacity and the technological capabilities of its platform to underwriting talent. But it is not expected to pursue a pure-play incubation strategy.

Revau has an existing captive that is able to retain business to align with reinsurers, and is likely to deploy a similar approach over time as it builds out in the U.S., sources added.

The MGA platform is able to offer equity ownership as a currency, with the majority of the company owned by its private equity backer and the rest by management and employees.