Fee and commission income (2003): £407m.
Pre-tax profit (2003): £6m
Address: Towergate House
2 County Gate,
Staceys Street
Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1ST
Tel: 01622 754 754
Fax: 01622 766 229
Website: www.towergate.co.uk
Year established: 1997
History: Towergate was created by its founders to carry out a strategy of acquiring specialist underwriting agencies in the UK. In the six years since its launch Towergate has acquired 41 companies and portfolios and now writes £205m gross written premium and has become the leading underwriting agency group for specialist products in the UK. Its products range is firmly focused on the provision of specialist insurance to customers in niche groups.
The group provides in excess of 50 products to insurance brokers and intermediaries and, in many cases, is the dominant player in the field.
Major shareholders: Peter Cullum, Paul Dyer, Tony Proverbs.
Main lines of business: General insurance underwriting.
Number of UK employees: 530
Chief officer: Peter Cullum, executive chairman
Biography: Peter Cullum started his career with Commercial Union and Royal before moving to Excess Insurance as marketing director. Cullum has held senior management positions in marketing after obtaining his MSc in risk management from City University Business School in 1975. He led the management buyout of Ecomonic from its parent Hafnia for £6.5m.
In 1996, Economic was sold by its management to Hiscox. In 1997, Towergate Underwriting Group was created. Cullum is a Fellow of the Institute and an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and has contributed to numerous management conferences and written many articles for the technical press.
