Our shareholders

Who owns Howden? 

We have five groups of Shareholders. It's the combination of these Shareholders that gives Howden our unique, long-term outlook – and which allow us to truly deliver sustainable solutions to clients without the distractions of short-term results.

The first and largest group comprises our employees. 5,300 of us currently hold approximately 30% of the shares in the Group. Employee ownership is core to our culture, which means the service we provide to our clients is personal to us.

Our external minority investors share three important characteristics:

• They are long-term, patient, growth investors.
• They support our independence and intentions to widen our employee shareholder base.
• They are true partners who bring expertise to the table.

General Atlantic invested in Howden Group Holdings in 2013. They are a leading global investor with over USD77bn in assets under management across six sectors. Their approach to investing is based on the idea of ‘patient capital to create long-term value and deliver lasting impact’.

CDPQ invested in Howden Group Holdings in 2018. They are a long-term institutional investor with over CAD424bn in net assets. Their investment approach is to ‘create long-term value, focus on quality partnerships, and be an active, not an activist, shareholder’.

Hg became an investor in Howden Group Holdings in March 2021. They are Europe’s largest investor in software and services and have over USD65bn funds under management. Their investment approach is based on ‘building businesses that change how we all do business’.

Our final group is the Howden Foundation, Howden’s corporate foundation and an independent registered charity, which has been a shareholder in the Group since 2020. This means giving back is stitched into the fabric of the Group, and our Foundation grows as we do.