It depends on the buyer. PE buyers are buying inorganic growth via customer acquisition because it is more cost effective. Giant aggregators, especially those that are publicly traded, must "swim or die," so they have to keep buying otherwise growth stops. Many that pay huge multiples are also realizing as many synergies as possible, so the real trick is to find an owner operated business where the company legacy and taking care of the employees is more important to the seller than wringing every last cent out of the sale.

Bringing this back up 11 months later. Have things materially changed since this thread, or are quality insurance brokerages still trading at similarly strong multiples? The recent AI news seems to have hit some of the larger players. I’m curious whether any of this is actually affecting smaller SME brokers in practice, particularly in the $1m to $2m EBITDA range, or whether the impact is still mostly confined to sentiment and public-market names. I’m currently looking at opportunities in Europe, with a focus on Belgium. If anyone has current read-throughs on Belgium or broader European market dynamics, I’d be very interested to compare notes. Let me know.