Regional broker RK Harrison acquires £4m GWP of small business
Marsh Private Clients has sold its rural business to regional broker RK Harrison.
It is understood the book of business will be transferred on the 15 October and all Marsh clients have been notified. The business includes small working farms and diversified small commercial risks. It is estimated the gross written premium on the portfolio is worth £4m.
Last week Insurance Times broke the news that Marsh Private Clients had sold the opportunity to invite renewals for a large book of personal lines business to Norwich Union. The deal with RK Harrison is yet another part of the division's 12-month review initiated by its general manager, Barry O'Neill, according to sources.
It is understood the review will streamline the division, offloading its peripheral business which it has accumulated over the past 20 years, so it can focus purely on private clients business. It will now target high net worth and private clients, with complex and international needs, and specialising in the mega-yachts market. But Marsh will not be pulling out of the farming and agricultural market, said the source.
RK Harrison commercial director Stuart Rootham said: "This book of rural business is a natural fit for us, particularly as we are working with the Country Landowners' Association, whose 40,000 members make up 50% of UK landowners."
Meanwhile, RK Harrison has officially opened its new Chester office and announced that Don McCulloch, Caroline Thomas and Martin Kay have joined as account executives.
McCulloch, a former regional chairman of Biba and current deputy president of the Insurance Institute of Chester & North Wales, joins from Astbury Wren & Co.
