Broker wants to double within four years

Clear Insurance Management has added an extra £2m to its acquisition pot after refinancing its bank borrowing with Clydesdale Bank.

The broker now has access to £6.5m and is looking to buy brokers which could bolt onto its City office.  

Chief executive Howard Lickens said the ideal acquisition target would be a “commercial broker with some kind of niche or specialism.”

The broker is looking to double in size within four years. “With this [extra funding] we can do that,” he told Insurance Times.

Clear has acquired 16 brokers since it began trading in 2001. It now manages gross written premiums of £45m and has 16,000 clients.

Clear previously had facilities in place with Macquarie Bank, which pulled out of making loans to UK Brokers in 2012.

Lickens added: “Macquarie was the bank for small and mid-sized brokers. Clydesdale are keen to take up a bit of that slack.”

The bank facilities were arranged by commercial finance brokers Integritas Finance Solutions.