Private equity firm Thoma Bravo is taking specialty insurance marketplace Accelerant Holdings off the New York Stock Exchange, barely two years after the company went public. The deal, unveiled on August 13, 2026, values the company at an enterprise value of more than $4 billion, with Thoma Bravo agreeing to pay a steep premium to bring the specialty insurance exchange back into private hands.
A 49% Premium for a Company That Just Went Public
Under the merger agreement, Accelerant Class A and Class B stockholders will receive $20.25 per share in cash, representing a 49% premium to Accelerant’s closing share price on August 12, 2026. Accelerant Holdings (NYSE: ARX), the data-driven risk exchange platform transforming the specialty insurance marketplace through the Accelerant Risk Exchange, disclosed the transaction alongside its second-quarter results, filed with the SEC in a Form 8-K covering both the earnings release and the merger agreement announcement. Once the deal closes, Accelerant will become a private company, and its common shares will no longer be listed nor traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Accelerant’s leadership framed the sale as a springboard rather than a retreat. Chairman and CEO Jeff Radke said the move would let the company invest more aggressively in its platform, arguing that “Returning to private ownership with Thoma Bravo’s technology and software expertise, coupled with its vast financial and strategic resources, will enable us to make investments that further position our unique, data fueled platform to be the rails on which specialty insurance runs.” Karen Meriwether, who chaired the special committee formed to evaluate the offer, echoed that framing, saying “The Special Committee believes this transaction recognizes the valuable platform and ecosystem that the Accelerant team has built, and provides immediate value to shareholders at a substantial premium.”
What Thoma Bravo Gets in the Risk Exchange
The appeal for Thoma Bravo lies in Accelerant’s underlying technology rather than a conventional balance-sheet play. Accelerant operates the Accelerant Risk Exchange, a data-driven platform that connects specialty insurance underwriters with risk capital providers through advanced analytics, real-time data, and transparent underwriting insights. That kind of infrastructure fits squarely within Thoma Bravo’s own description of itself as the world’s largest software-focused investment firm, with more than $172 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2026, a firm that has built a two-decade track record of approximately 590 companies, representing more than $320 billion of aggregate value across control and non-control investments and add-on acquisitions.
That framing matters for how the deal should be read. Software-focused buyout firms have spent the past several years hunting for insurance infrastructure plays that behave more like data businesses than underwriting balance sheets, and a risk exchange that connects capacity providers to underwriters through a technology layer fits that thesis more cleanly than a traditional carrier ever could. Taking Accelerant private also removes the pressure of quarterly disclosure just as it scales, giving the platform room to reinvest in the exchange itself rather than manage the market’s reaction to short-term swings in fee income. For a company barely two years removed from its own IPO, going private again is as much a statement about where growth capital wants to sit in the insurance value chain as it is about any single valuation multiple.
Thoma Bravo’s dealmakers were explicit about what drew them to the platform. Senior Partner A.J. Rohde said “As the MGA market continues to grow, underwriters are looking for a committed technology-forward partner who can unlock rapid program growth and underwriting innovation. We’ve invested in insurance technology and data businesses for years, and we’re excited to work alongside the entire Accelerant team.” Principal Matt LoSardo pointed to the mechanics of the exchange itself, calling out how “Its risk exchange connects underwriters with risk capital and gives both sides the data to price risk better than either could alone. We look forward to partnering with Jeff and the team to invest behind the technology, data and capital capacity to support Accelerant’s next phase of growth.” The logic echoes a broader pattern of private capital targeting the technology layer of insurance distribution, a dynamic also visible in Acrisure’s restructuring of its broker workforce around AI and automation, where data and automation are reshaping how intermediaries compete for share.
Founders and Altamont Stay in the Cap Table
The transaction moved through Accelerant’s boardroom without friction. The Company’s Board of Directors established a Special Committee comprised solely of independent and disinterested directors to review and consider the transaction. The Special Committee unanimously recommended approving the transaction which was then unanimously approved by Accelerant’s Board of Directors. That alignment was reinforced by Accelerant’s largest shareholder: Entities affiliated with Altamont Capital Partners holding shares representing approximately 82% of the Company’s outstanding voting rights have agreed to vote their shares in favor of the transaction, all but guaranteeing shareholder approval.
Notably, this is not a clean exit for Accelerant’s biggest backers. Altamont Capital Partners, Accelerant’s largest investor, and the Company’s founders, intend to retain equity ownership alongside Thoma Bravo, the terms of which will be finalized prior to closing. Altamont, which has invested in over 50 companies and currently manages over $4 billion of capital, is advised on the deal by Ropes & Gray, with Accelerant noting that Ropes & Gray LLP is serving as legal counsel to Altamont Capital Partners. Accelerant’s own deal team leaned on Morgan Stanley, with the company disclosing that Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is serving as exclusive financial advisor to the Board of Directors of Accelerant. Rolling forward equity rather than cashing out entirely puts this deal in the same category as ANV Group’s all-cash acquisition of Open Lending, another recent take-private where continuity of ownership was central to the pitch.
No Financing Condition, a Ticking Fee, and a 2027 Close
Structurally, Merger Sub will merge with and into the Company, with the Company continuing as the surviving company and becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Parent (the “Merger”). Parent and Merger Sub are affiliates of Thoma Bravo Discover Fund V, L.P. (“Sponsor”), an investment fund managed by Thoma Bravo — the acquisition vehicles Accelerant uses to describe the mechanics of the buyout in its own filings. Thoma Bravo is not relying on debt markets to get it done: The transaction is not subject to any financing condition as Thoma Bravo has provided an equity commitment to fund the purchase, removing one of the more common sources of risk in large take-privates.
Timing still hinges on regulators. The transaction, which is currently expected to close in the first half of 2027, is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by the shareholders of the Company, and satisfaction of required regulatory approvals. As a licensed risk exchange operating across specialty lines, Accelerant needs sign-off from state insurance regulators — a process that has become a recurring bottleneck in insurance M&A, echoing the drawn-out path to Kovr’s underwriting approval from Brazil’s central bank. Accelerant’s agreement builds in a hedge against that kind of delay: if the closing of the transaction is delayed by certain pending insurance regulatory approvals, shareholders will receive a ticking fee accruing at a rate of 6% per annum for a period specified in the agreement.
The Growth Numbers Behind the Buyout
The buyout arrives just as Accelerant posted the kind of growth that made it an attractive target in the first place. Chief Financial Officer Linda S. Huber said “Exchange Written Premium grew 23% year-over-year and trailing twelve months premiums are now $4.6 billion. Our fee-based operating revenue and adjusted EBITDA, which we define as consolidated results less the underwriting segment, increased 56% and 91%, respectively, compared to the 2025 second quarter. We look forward to working with Thoma Bravo to grow the business alongside our employees, Members, and Risk Capital Partners.” On a quarterly basis, Exchange Written Premium of $1.32 billion grew 23% year-over-year, growth that Thoma Bravo is now betting several billion dollars will continue under private ownership, according to the earnings release filed alongside the merger disclosure.
