Mr. Mitch Green reports

CLAIRVEST TO EXIT ACERA AS PART OF ACERA MERGER WITH NAVACORD

Clairvest Group Inc., together with Clairvest Equity Partners VI, has signed an agreement to sell its minority interest in Acera Insurance Services Ltd. as part of Acera's merger with Navacord Corp., one of Canada's top commercial insurance brokerages. Chief executive officer Lee Rogers, chairman/president Andrew Kemp, Acera's executive team and Acera's employee shareholders will be rolling a significant amount of their equity into the merged entity. Closing, which is expected in the first quarter of calendar 2026, is subject to achieving certain closing conditions, including regulatory, court and shareholder approvals.

Acera was formed through the merger and recapitalization of Rogers Insurance and CapriCMW in September, 2022. Today, Acera is one of Canada's largest independent brokerages, with over 750 employee shareholders. The company provides property and casualty and group benefits insurance solutions to both commercial and personal clients. During Clairvest's three-year partnership, Acera increased earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by 70 per cent and completed 24 tuck-in acquisitions.

The sale is expected to have a positive impact on Clairvest's book value of approximately $4 per share upon closing over the carrying value as at Sept. 30, 2025.

The proposed Acera-Navacord merger represents an excellent outcome for Navacord and Acera, including their respective shareholders, employees and customers.

"We are very proud of what has been accomplished over the past three years. From the outset, Lee and Andrew demonstrated exceptional partnership and commitment to building a high performance organization. It has been a privilege to support them through this phase of Acera's growth, and we are excited to see the company continue its success in its next chapter with Navacord. Clairvest remains a committed investor in the insurance sector, building on our track record of success with Shepell-fgi, Digital Media Solutions and now Acera," said Mitch Green, managing director of Clairvest.

"Clairvest has been an instrumental partner from the very beginning. Their support was pivotal in catalyzing the merger transaction in 2022, and their guidance helped Acera accelerate its growth across Canada. Mitch, Ethan and the Clairvest team brought analytical rigour and strategic insight, strengthening our business at every step. We are grateful for the partnership and proud of what we've built together," said Lee Rogers, chief executive officer of Acera.

"Acera is a great example of Clairvest's entrepreneur-centric minority ownership investment program that supports transformative outcomes while allowing management partners to retain control. Much of Acera's success is attributable to organizational alignment. We are excited to build on our success with this model in the insurance domain," said Ethan Wolfe, vice-president of Clairvest.

About Clairvest Group Inc.

Clairvest's mission is to partner with entrepreneurs to help them build strategically significant businesses. Founded in 1987 by a group of successful Canadian entrepreneurs, Clairvest is a top-performing private equity management firm with over $4.3-billion of capital under management. Clairvest invests its own capital and that of third parties through the Clairvest Equity Partners limited partnerships in owner-led businesses. Under the current management team, Clairvest has initiated investments in 69 different platform companies and generated top-quartile performance over an extended period.

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