Ayrshire-based Giles Insurance Brokers has agreed a £3m deal with Clydesdale Bank, the Scottish sister organisation of Yorkshire Bank, to fund its expansion in the West Midlands.
Giles said the West Midlands currently lacked a dominant independent brokerage but it planned to derive a large portion of its business from the region within the next three years.
It added that it planned to grow the volume of work that it handles annually to £35m from £23m.
Giles has already identified its first acquisition target. It will be spending £1.5m of its funding on Halesowen broker Cottle Passman, which was founded in 1966 and has 23 staff.
Giles currently has 12 branches, most of them in the west of Scotland. However, it intends to double its branch network within the next five years, with the ultimate aim of becoming the UK's largest independent broker within a decade.
It reported pre-tax profits of over £550,000 and a 25% rise in income to £4.65m in 2001. The company has already indicated that it intends to list in 2004.
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