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How portfolio programmes help private equity firms simplify risk management

Private equity firms often oversee diverse and growing portfolios of companies, each with a unique risk profile and insurance needs.
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By Harsh S Dutia , 

Portfolio Manager, Marsh Privaty Equity M&A (PEMA)

25/07/2025 · 3 minute read

Private equity firms often oversee diverse and expanding portfolios of companies, each with a unique risk profile and insurance requirements. For the private equity firm, managing dozens of individual policies and renewal timelines can, aside from being time-consuming, lead to a fragmented approach to insurance management.

Instead of leaving it to each portfolio company to manage its own insurance, some private equity firms have adopted portfolio insurance programmes to consolidate management across entities. However, some private equity leaders are hesitant to implement such a programme due to concerns that consolidating coverage might increase complexity, rather than simplify processes.

But when executed thoughtfully, a portfolio programme often alleviates administrative burdens.

5 benefits of portfolio programmes

A consolidated insurance programme can lead to a number of benefits for private equity firms, including:

  • Streamlined renewals. Without a centralised programme, private equity firms and their portfolio companies often juggle many insurance placements, each with its own timeline, broker relationship, and insurer negotiations. A portfolio programme synchronises these efforts, aligns renewal dates, and creates a cohesive strategy.
    The result is less time spent chasing policies and more time spent creating value. For example, a firm with 10 portfolio companies might have to coordinate 10 separate property and casualty renewals. Moving to a unified renewal schedule can not only help save time, but the private equity firm might also be able to leverage collective buying power to negotiate better terms.
  • Reduced administrative hassle. Managing insurance across multiple entities can be a logistical headache. Portfolio programmes reduce that strain by centralising coordination and using a single insurance market access point of contact, often a single broker team, to support placements, documentation, and communication. This frees up bandwidth for operating partners, CFOs, and deal teams to focus on value creation.
  • Dedicated support from a broker portfolio manager. One of the most overlooked benefits is the ability to appoint a dedicated portfolio insurance manager within the broking team. The manager can assist by proactively handling policy coordination, helping troubleshoot issues, and aiming to keep stakeholders aligned. This personal support can be a game-changer, especially for lean deal and operations teams juggling competing priorities.
  • Better data-driven decisions. Centralisation helps improve transparency. With aggregated data across the portfolio, firms can identify trends, track losses, evaluate cost drivers, and benchmark programme performance. Rather than relying on anecdotal input from individual CFOs, deal teams can access portfolio-wide insights to inform decisions.
    For example, discovering a pattern of frequent cyber insurance claims, such as ransomware incidents or phishing-related breaches, across several companies may prompt portfolio-wide initiatives, like improved IT protocols, employee training, or investment in endpoint protection tools. By grounding decision-making on data instead of assumptions, private equity firms can better protect assets and seek to optimise expenditure.
  • Scalable growth support. As portfolios grow and evolve, a programmematic approach to insurance often makes it easier to scale coverage. New acquisitions can be onboarded more efficiently, reducing integration time and establishing greater consistency across coverage and compliance.
    Equally important, these programmes offer the flexibility to adjust as existing risks evolve and new ones emerge, whether due to growth, geographical expansion, or changing insurance market conditions. During exit planning, a unified insurance structure also simplifies due diligence, making it easier to present the risk profile to prospective buyers.

Creating value through a consolidated programme

For private equity firms, managing insurance through a portfolio programme is more than a cost-containment strategy; it’s a smart operational move. These programmes help simplify risk management, allowing firms to focus on what truly matters — growing and protecting value across the portfolio.

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