Global Risk Partners (GRP) has continued its fast start to 2021 with the acquisition of Five Insurance Brokers Ltd. The acquisition follows the recent announcement that GRP has agreed to acquire Marsh Networks UK.
Ipswich-based Five Insurance is a specialist provider of commercial insurance to the construction, manufacturing & process, haulage, motor trade and warehousing sectors.
The business was founded in 2010 by its five directors, Jeremy Howard, Robert Shurety, Lindsay Drain, Stuart Paris and Simon Hughes. The business will remain in its current location and continue to be led by the incumbent management team. All employees will stay with the business under new ownership, although one of the directors, Jeremy Howard, has decided to step away from the business following completion.
Five Insurance Brokers will remain as a stand-alone business, but according to director Rob Shurety, is targeting substantial growth on the back of added firepower from being part of GRP.
He said: “At a time when we are seeing rates hardening across our specialist sectors, it is important that we obtain the best possible deals for our clients, maintaining the level of cover they need at the right price. As part of GRP, we’ll improve our access to senior decision makers within insurers, which will help us strike better deals for our clients.”
“In summary, this is a great deal for Five Insurance Brokers and our clients and we are fully expecting to accelerate our profitable growth under new ownership”, he said, and added:
“The continuing economic uncertainty brought about by the pandemic and Brexit was a factor in our decision to become part of GRP, where Mike [Bruce] and the team encourage the right balance between enabling us to continue to develop our brand and offering help and support when we need it.”
Stephen Ross, GRP’s head of M&A, said: “This is a high-quality business with an experienced, highly entrepreneurial management team. Five Insurance Brokers have good roots in East Anglia and give us a significant footprint in this part of the country.”
He added: “Despite our announcing the major acquisition of Marsh Networks UK last week, this deal underlines the continued strength of our pipeline and that we continue to have a strong appetite to bring deals across the line.”
Stephen said that GRP is to make Five Insurance Brokers an Appointed Representative (AR) of the Group post-completion.
The deal completed on 16 February 2021 and the consideration is undisclosed.