Tampa-based insurance brokerage The Baldwin Group has agreed to go private in a $7.7 billion deal backed by Sequence Holdings and Michael Dell’s family office, giving shareholders $32.50 per share in cash and ending the company’s run on Nasdaq.
The price is 88% above Baldwin’s June 17 closing price, the last trading day before reports surfaced that the company was exploring a sale. The deal values Baldwin’s equity at about $4.6 billion and includes roughly $3.1 billion of net debt that the buyers will assume or refinance.
Baldwin’s board unanimously approved the transaction after an independent special committee recommended it. Shareholders and regulators still have to sign off, and the company expects the deal to close in the first quarter of 2027. The buyers are not making the acquisition contingent on securing financing.
When the deal closes, Baldwin will become a wholly owned subsidiary of a new parent formed by Sequence and DFO Management, the investment office that manages assets for Dell and his family. Eligible Baldwin employees who already own equity can roll part of those holdings into the private company and keep a minority stake alongside the buyers.
The $7.7 billion enterprise value works out to about 20 times Baldwin’s trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA of roughly $396 million. CEO Trevor Baldwin said private ownership will let the company spend faster on technology and artificial intelligence without changing the strategy it has already been pursuing.
“Our vision and strategy are not changing,” Baldwin said. “What changes is the pace of our investments in talent and technology.”
Sequence, a New York-based permanent holding company, plans to bring its engineering team and Atlas technology platform into Baldwin. The firm buys established service businesses and rebuilds their workflows, products and operations around newer technology.
Michael Dell said Baldwin has spent about 15 years building what he described as a data and platform advantage in insurance distribution. DFO, which grew out of the Dell family’s former MSD Capital operation, invests without the fixed exit timetable that comes with a traditional private equity fund.
Baldwin serves more than 3 million clients in the United States and internationally across insurance brokerage, risk management and employee benefits.