John Butler
John Butler is a managing director and co-head of insurance investment banking in the financial services group at Piper Sandler. Previously, he was a principal in the investment banking group at Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P. He specializes in providing strategic advice to insurance underwriters, wholesale and retail insurance brokers and other insurance service providers, including MGAs, TPAs and VSC/warranty companies. Butler has more than 20 years of experience as an investment banker to the financial services industry.
While at Sandler O’Neill, Butler advised clients on a wide range of M&A transactions, including LSG Insurance Partners on its sale to A.J. Gallagher; Spectrum Automotive (f/k/a Vanguard), on its sale to Cornell Capital; Hospitals Insurance Company on its sale to The Doctors Company; Relation Insurance Services on its sale to Aquiline Capital Partners; Kohlberg & Co. portfolio company, U.S. Risk, on its sale to USI Insurance Holdings; Crestview Partners on its investment in Protect My Car (PMC); Lovell Minnick in connection with its acquisition of National Auto Care (NAC); MAPFRE on the sale of its New York insurance company and renewal rights in selected states; United States Warranty Corp. on its sale to Protective Life; Odyssey Investment Partners on its acquisition of Integro, Ltd.; Fortegra Financial on the sale of Bliss & Glennon and eReinsure.com to AmWINS Group; and SeaBright Holdings on its sale to Enstar Group. He has also executed numerous private and public capital-raising transactions, including transactions on behalf of Fortegra Financial, ClearBlue, Atlas Financial Holdings, Heritage Insurance and Conifer Insurance.
Prior to joining Sandler O'Neill, Butler was a managing director at Piper Jaffray & Co., where he focused on merger and acquisition advisory and capital-raising transactions for the insurance industry. Butler began his career as a practicing attorney focused on insurance coverage and corporate/securities law matters.
Butler holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Fordham University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in government, cum laude, from Georgetown University. He is a contributing author of Insurance Industry Mergers & Acquisitions, published by the Society of Actuaries.