By Ryan Hewlett

Feb 14 - (The Insurer) - London market entrepreneur and founder of Kentro Capital Colin Thompson has continued to build his stake in specialist UK insurance investor BP Marsh, lifting his shareholding to 4%.

• Kentro founder lifts stake in venture capitalist to 4%

• Thompson first acquired 3% stake in February last year

• BP Marsh share price rose ~58% in 2024

• Kentro sold to Brown & Brown in May 2023

In a stock exchange filing on Friday, BP Marsh confirmed that Thompson now holds 1,483,094 shares in the firm, equivalent to a 4.0% shareholding.

The move further solidifies the relationship between the venture capital investor and industry entrepreneur and comes a year after Thompson first acquired a 3% shareholding in London-listed BP Marsh in February last year.

Shares in BP Marsh, listed on the AIM segment of the London Stock Exchange, rose more than 58% over 2024 and are currently trading at 646.60 pence apiece, handing the firm a market cap of 239.73 million pounds.

BP Marsh was a long-term backer of London MGA/intermediary Kentro – formerly Nexus Underwriting – before the business was sold to Florida-based retail broker Brown & Brown in May 2023.

The deal – first revealed by The Insurer – saw Brown & Brown acquire Kentro along with its Nexus Underwriting MGA platform and other branded businesses: Xenia, Millstream, Capstone Brokers and Spectrum Risk Management.

The sale handed Kentro an enterprise value of 380 million pounds and an equity value of circa 280 million pounds. BP Marsh sold its circa 18.7% stake for 51.5 million pounds, having first invested in Kentro in August 2014, with an initial equity investment of 1.5 million pounds for a 5% holding.

Founded in 2008 by Thompson and Ian Whistondale, the firm wrote more than 550 million pounds in gross premium in 2024.

Thompson – who is understood to have owned circa 19% of Kentro before the sale – resigned as CEO of the firm in July and is understood to be serving out his notice period in the garden until October this year.

It is not known whether Thompson will seek to return to the market or what his next move will be.

Alongside Thompson, it is understood that a number of other former and existing Kentro executives have acquired shares in BP Marsh, albeit at a significantly smaller scale than Thompson.

This includes co-founder Whistondale, former Xenia broking CEO and current Bridge Specialty CEO Tim Coles, former chairman of Millstream Underwriting Martin Mills, former Kentro co-founder Alex Mobbs and former Nexus managing director James Rasmussen.