Guy Carpenter and Valloop enable £40bn in surety capacity for SME employee buyouts

Guy Carpenter, a risk and reinsurance specialist, has announced a partnership with Valloop, a financial platform focused on employee ownership, to support employee buyouts of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through a new financial structure.

The collaboration secures up to £39 billion in surety-backed capital from a consortium of reinsurers.

This funding is intended to help up to one million employees across 20,000 companies acquire ownership of the businesses they work for by 2030. The product will be rolled out in the UK, Europe, the USA, Canada, and Australia.

“This is going to change the landscape of UK companies by democratising ownership and providing the opportunity directly into the hands of the workers for the first time ever,” said Stephen Greenwood, Founder and Global Chief Executive Officer of Valloop.

“By partnering with the global reinsurance markets, we can make the capital structure cost and the outcome more equity efficient, which will open up the opportunity for employees to have the chance to buy the SME they work for when private or institutional owners need to exit.”

The initiative is being launched under Valloop’s ‘1by30’ campaign, which aims to transition one million workers into ownership by 2030. The company links the effort to broader policy themes, including worker poverty, gender equality, and income inequality—three areas addressed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Valloop operates a digital platform that combines artificial intelligence with financial structuring tools to facilitate employee takeovers of SMEs. The approach is positioned as an alternative to traditional private equity or M&A sales.

Greenwood added: “The surety product and reinsurance capacity will allow the Valloop Exchange platform to accelerate the sale and purchase of an SME business at a fair value to transition to employee ownership without the need for institutional private equity. In doing so, Valloop delivers financial inclusivity for SME workers who have historically been excluded from profit and vote.”

There are roughly 400 million SMEs globally, and many face succession planning issues. In the UK, Valloop cites data suggesting that around 30% of SME owners are over 55, with significant numbers expected to exit in the next decade. The company estimates that 180 million SMEs worldwide may require ownership transfers, most of which are closely held by a small number of individuals.

Valloop is targeting businesses with 10 to 250 employees, annual revenues between £2 million and £50 million, and profits from £250,000 to £15 million.

“We launched Valloop to support the many millions of employees that work in small, medium and listed businesses,” further added Greenwood.

He continued: “After two decades in the market, we have seen a burgeoning need to help retiring business owners who are looking to sell to their employees.

“Our platform delivers everything employees need to lead the business in its transition to their ownership, and it allows them to focus on growing their business rather than wasting time on the friction that can arise in normal M&A sales. The significance of the support from the global financial markets sector is a strong endorsement of the impact we will make to millions of employees around the world.”

Guy Carpenter, a subsidiary of Marsh McLennan, has structured the reinsurance capacity to back Valloop’s surety model.

David Edwards, Head of Credit, Bond and Political Risk at Guy Carpenter, said: “Through this innovative surety instrument, small and medium-sized companies will be able to seamlessly transition to employee ownership while investing in their future growth and supporting their employees. Guy Carpenter is excited to be contributing to making this possible.”

Baroness Sharon Bowles of Berkhamsted, a Non-Executive Director at Valloop and known for her work in corporate governance, also commented on the model’s implications for workplace culture.

“By encouraging an environment where employees feel genuinely responsible for the company’s success, businesses can unlock a level of engagement and initiative that helps drive significant improvements in performance. I call this the ‘Whoosh Effect’.

“By this, I mean the effect of catapulting employees into a state of ownership and involvement from which they were previously excluded. Imagine one day you are working nine to five, and the next, you have a stake in the company, and people are welcoming your opinion. No longer is there idle chatter and false hope; instead, there’s transparency and a reality that gathers momentum. You are not just hired, you are heard.”

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