Manchester broker CBG is looking to expand into other UK regions after completing its first acquisition outside the North West.
CBG paid £2.71m in cash and shares for Marcus Hearn & Co, the trading subsidiary of the Marcus Hearn Group of Companies, based in Shoreditch, London.
Marcus Hearn, which offers specialist insurance products and general insurance broking services, controls gross written premium (GWP) of £7.5m.
Its schemes include insurance cover for twins and multiple births.
CBG said the acquisition would help expand the group’s geographical footprint and create new business opportunities. The purchase boosts CBG’s annual premium income to more than £40m GWP.
Martin Lewis, technical director of CBG, who will now be responsible for Marcus Hearn operationally, said: “We want to expand into further geographic areas and with [Marcus Hearn] being in the London area it became very attractive to us.
“It runs a lot of scheme business, particularly travel schemes, and that is one of the attractions for us. It has a higher level of capabilities and expertise in that area. It is expanding our distribution.”
Lewis said there would be further acquisitions in the near future.
He said: “We are quite well advanced with a couple of acquisitions. We will be fairly selective, but we would obviously look at any opportunity outside of the North West.”
In June, CBG raised £3m by a share placing to fund acquisitions.
Lewis added: “The fund raising gave us a war chest which is still available. We don’t need to raise anymore capital at this time.”
Marcus Hearn reported a turnover of £1.3m and a profit before tax of £69,197 for the year ended 30 September 2006.
