Ep179 Antony Erotocritou CEO Ardonagh Specialty: We’re not slowing down

Today’s guest is someone with a fascinating story to tell. Today
Antony Erotocritou is the CEO of Ardonagh Specialty but he has
ridden the Ardonagh story all the way from its origins in the
debt-for-equity swap for troubled UK retail consolidator
Towergate in 2015. Ardonagh has since been on a journey to build
its specialty and international operations, which included 2021’s
transformational deal to buy the newly-formed Corant Global
Group, comprising the brokers Ed and Besso. The organic and
inorganic investment continues at high speed. Over the last eight
years, perhaps the only part missing from this story has been a
clear narrative from the broking group itself. It has given the
impression that it is too busy with its head down to worry about
what others might think of it. Ardonagh seemed happy to leave a
vacuum that many of its peers have been eager to exploit. It’s
fair to say that media coverage of the group in the past few
years has been chequered, with as many negative stories of team
defections as positive ones around new hires or acquisitions.
Well, this podcast gives me the sense of being the start of the
group getting out on the front foot. Ardonagh Specialty has
consolidated its many brands into Price Forbes and Bishopsgate
and Antony has a very positive growth story to tell. As a former
CFO he is absolutely on top of the numbers and strategy and we
have a very detailed discussion about the economics of scaling up
an expansive broking platform. He’s excellent company and as
someone who arrived to rectify one of UK broking’s most serious
mis-steps, here is someone who knows in great detail how
expansion should not be done. Here we learn how he thinks it
should be done properly and given his unique experience, it’s
really worth hearing him out. There’s a lot to learn and plenty
of myths to be exploded. LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor
AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com/