Duffy plans to acquire three brokers by the end of June

Steve Duffy

Former Towergate Agency Management managing director Stephen Duffy has announced plans to set up a group of independent brokers in the North West of England.

Duffy has ambitious plans to acquire three brokers worth a combined income of £5m by the end of June.

Over the next five years he plans to grow the group into a business with gross written premiums of £25m and 40 to 50 staff across one or two offices in the Manchester region, having identified nine potential targets.

“The plan is to create a regional broker providing a professional service to the local community,” Duffy told Insurance Times.

Duffy, a director of Gladstone Underwriting Agency, left Towergate at the end of 2008 prior to joining J R Clare Underwriting Agencies as head of broker development.

He has secured backing from private investors and will appoint an executive team to develop the business.