Hillewaere Group acquires industry peer from Kortrijk

Hillewaere Group takes over Cambien Insurance. “Thanks to this partnership, we are strengthening our presence on the West Flemish market,” the insurer writes in a press release.

After the integration of Group NBA from Kortrijk in 2022, Hillewaere Groep from Turnhout is strengthening their Kortrijk hub with the brothers Bruno and Frederik Cambien and their employees.

“We are very happy that we can further expand our services in Kortrijk and the surrounding area together”, says Jochen Blondelle, director of Hillewaere Insurance in Kortrijk.

Cambien Insurance has been active in the insurance sector for 80 years. Brothers Bruno and Frederik Cambien have been at the helm of the family business since 1990. The insurance sector has seen a changing landscape in recent years and this also requires the necessary growth and cooperation.

“We are more than an insurance broker that offers ‘classic insurance’,” say Bruno and Frederik Cambien. “We like to think along with our SME customers and develop tailor-made solutions for them. By sharing our knowledge within the Hillewaere Group, we will be able to take our services to the end customer to an even higher level. This local anchoring in combination with a strong back office is more important than ever now that our sector requires more and more expertise and is modernizing ever faster. Thanks to the integration within the Hillewaere Group, we will become even more efficient as experts and advisors.”

Merging means growth and even better services
Cambien Insurance is starting the new year under the Hillewaere flag. During the first mergers in 2022, Roel Druyts, CEO and founder of Hillewaere Group, already indicated that Hillewaere wants to further consolidate the fragmented landscape of insurance and real estate brokerage.

“By including Cambien Verzekeringen in our group, we continue our growth story in Flanders”, says Roel Druyts. “The Cambien brothers mainly focus on insuring SMEs, with a particular specialization in construction and machine breakdown for the rental sector. Moreover, it is a family business with a ‘hands on’ mentality. One that we also love at Hillewaere. We opt for a partner model, in which the directors of the offices become partners within our group, and we strongly believe in this win-win story.”

In 2021, Rothschild & Co invested in the capital of the Hillewaere Group via Five Arrows Principal Investments (FAPI). Roel Druyts: “This and then made it clear that we wanted to grow further in the European insurance and real estate sector. After the nine acquisitions of insurance offices throughout Flanders in the past two years and the acquisition of the master license from Christie’s International Real Estate, we are realizing those growth plans with our Hillewaere Group. A second line of financing was recently made available to realize the next series of partnerships and projects. The integration of Cambien Insurance is the first of these.”

The Hillewaere Group has 275 employees, with a commission turnover of 34 million euros. The strategic plan is to reach 70 million euros in the next three years.