Simpson Thacher is advising World Insurance Associates, LLC (World) and Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC (Charlesbank) in connection with the definitive agreement for funds advised by Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs) to make a major investment in World. Goldman Sachs will join Charlesbank, which first invested in World in April 2020, as co-lead equity investors in World. In addition to its equity investment, Goldman Sachs is concurrently leading a subordinated debt financing that will support continued acceleration of World’s acquisition strategy and organic expansion. Across both investments, Goldman Sachs will be investing more than $1 billion into World, which currently has a total enterprise valuation of approximately $3.4 billion. World’s management team and employee shareholders will remain major investors alongside Charlesbank and Goldman Sachs.
World, headquartered in Iselin, N.J., is one of the fastest-growing insurance brokerages in the U.S., and provides individuals and businesses with products and services across personal and commercial insurance, employee and executive benefits, retirement planning and financial planning services, and human capital management solutions.
The Simpson Thacher team includes Marni Lerner, Louis Argentieri, Humberto Romero Carrillo and Ellen Gao (M&A); Sophie Staples and Lina Pan (Tax); David Rubinsky, Linda Barrett, Jeffrey Penn and Matias Botto (Executive Compensation Employee Benefits); Richard Fenyes, Benjamin Heriaud, Sydney Mark and Jack Ligon (Capital Markets); Brian Steinhardt, Dorothy Hector and Suzanne Kaufman (Banking & Credit); Erica Rozow and George Gerstein (ERISA); David Blass and Meredith Abrams (Regulatory); Steve DeLott (Insurance); Lori Lesser and Corina Holland (Intellectual Property); and David Nicolardi (Privacy).