An insurance company has announced its second acquisition in the space of a week.
Birrell Group has bought Home Counties Insurance Services (HCIS), based in Ampthill, near Bedford.
It follows on from Birrell’s purchase of Managed Risk Solutions, in Northants, announced earlier this week.
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Birrell Group, based in Lutterworth, south Leicestershire, trades as Kingsway Insurance Services and is the Midlands hub business of Global Risk Partners.
Kingsway is run by the fourth generation of the same family that established it in 1959, and looks after clients in the Midlands and around the 海角视频.
It joined Global Risk Partners last year, so that it could combine its local, professional service with the resources and negotiating power of a national organisation.
Founded in 1990, HCIS provides predominantly commercial insurance. All of its staff will remain with the business and it will also retain its brand.
James Birrell, director of Birrell Group, said that deal underlined that the pace of acquisitions was picking up again.
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He said: “While the lockdown put a temporary halt to deal flow in this part of the 海角视频, we did not stop talking to our targets.
“HCIS is a well-run broker and the team are keen to take it to the next stage of its development, exploiting the benefits of being part of a bigger group.
“We are ambitious to build out our Midlands footprint as GRP’s hub business, so we are actively looking to bring more quality brokerages like HCIS (and Managed Risk Solutions) into the fold.”
HCIS managing director Cliff Amos said: “Birrell Group put together a compelling proposition for HCIS and we are excited by the opportunity to further grow the business under their guidance.
“With the power of GRP behind us we will be able to offer our clients a significantly enhanced range of products and services.”
Stephen Ross, head of mergers and acquisitions at M&A at Global Risk Partners, which is a London-based group of insurance businesses.
It has become one of the 海角视频’s biggest independent insurance intermediaries with gross written premium in excess of £800 million and more than 1,600 working under its umbrella.
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In June, Searchlight Capital Partners, a global private investment firm, acquired a majority stake in the business.
Mr Ross said: “A warm welcome to Cliff and the team at HCIS.
“We have made clear that the lockdown was a short blip in the steady progress we are making in growing the power and reach of our 海角视频 hubs.
“Our latest series of hub acquisitions underscores that our pipeline across the 海角视频 remains extremely strong. We expect to announce more deals during Q4 this year.”
Birrell said the deal – for an undisclosed sum – had received regulatory approval.