ANV Group to Acquire Open Lending for $3.15 a Share, About $372 Million, in an All-Cash Tender Offer at a 78% Premium

A Blackstone-backed insurance platform has agreed to buy a struggling auto-lending technology company. ANV Group Holdings has agreed to acquire Open Lending in an all-cash tender offer valuing the company at about $372 million, according to Insurance Business. The price is $3.15 per share, which the report says is a premium of roughly 78% to Open Lending's 90-day volume-weighted average share price as of June 15. Open Lending's board unanimously approved the deal. This article summarises that report and the company announcement. An earlier version of this article put the value of the deal at $1.3 billion. The reports we reviewed give about $372 million, so the figure has been corrected. Readers should check the companies' filings for the latest status of the tender offer.

What are the terms? The offer is all cash and structured as a tender offer, in which the buyer invites shareholders to sell their shares directly. Closing is expected in the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals. After closing, Open Lending would be taken private and delisted from Nasdaq. The Insurance Business article does not mention shareholder support agreements or the minimum number of shares that must be tendered, so we do not describe those conditions. Open Lending's advisers were Financial Technology Partners as financial adviser and Jones Day as legal adviser. ANV's advisers were Evercore and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison.

Who is the buyer? ANV Group is a Blackstone-backed managing general agent (MGA) platform. An MGA is a firm that underwrites insurance on behalf of insurers under delegated authority. ANV was formed in December 2025 from a transaction between AmTrust Financial Services and Blackstone Credit and Insurance. It took over seven AmTrust subsidiaries covering cyber excess and surplus lines, directors and officers liability, professional indemnity, mortgage and structured credit, and other lines in the US, UK and Continental Europe. AmTrust retained a significant equity interest and a ten-year capacity agreement. ANV added Iris Insurance Brokers in March 2026. Adam Karkowsky is chairman and chief executive. He said the deal directly advances the group's insurance-backed credit strategy, and that the company sees significant value creation ahead.

What does Open Lending do? Open Lending has operated for 25 years and provides loan analytics, risk-based pricing, risk modelling and default insurance to US auto lenders, mainly through its Lenders Protection programme. In plain terms, it helps lenders such as credit unions and banks make auto loans to borrowers who might otherwise be declined, by using its analytics and arranging insurance that protects the lender if the borrower defaults.

Why was the premium so large? The share price had been low. The report says the stock traded below $2.00 for much of 2025 and early 2026. A premium of 78% over the 90-day average therefore lifts the price to $3.15, but from a depressed base. The company's recent results explain the weakness. Revenue fell to $24.0 million in 2024 from $117.5 million in 2023, largely because of negative profit-share adjustments tied to higher-than-modelled defaults. Certified loans facilitated fell 25.9% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025, and the stock dropped about 9% after hours following those results. Profit-share adjustments reflect revenue the company records based on its expectation of how loans will perform, so when defaults are higher than expected, the adjustments reduce revenue.

What are the risks and questions? First, regulatory approvals: the closing depends on them, and the article does not say which regulators. Second, integration and strategy: the buyer says Open Lending fits an insurance-backed credit strategy, but the report does not describe plans for the business or its employees. Third, credit performance: defaults on auto loans, particularly in the subprime segment, drive the economics of the business. A buyer that already operates in credit-linked insurance may be better placed to absorb that volatility than a listed company with a share price under pressure, though that is our observation and not a claim by the companies.

What does it mean for shareholders and lenders? Shareholders who tender receive $3.15 per share in cash. The offer gives them an exit at a price above recent trading, though some may feel it undervalues the company's long-term prospects; the report does not give shareholder reactions. For lenders using the programme, nothing changes immediately, and any changes would depend on the buyer's plans after closing.

How does this fit a wider trend? Private capital continues to buy and build insurance-related platforms, a theme that Deloitte's 2026 insurance M&A outlook, covered on this site, describes as private capital flowing into specialty lines and managing general agents. Blackstone's involvement through ANV is an example.

Readers should also note what the reports leave out: the amount of debt financing, the buyer's plans for Open Lending's management, and any break fee. None is given in the report we reviewed, and this article does not speculate about them.

This article summarises company and press reports and is not investment advice.