The directors of the business will remain with Brunel

Brunel Insurance Brokers has acquired Glentworth Insurance Services and Glentworth Portishead Ltd (Glentworth) for an undisclosed sum.

Glentworth, which was originally established in 1993 under the name of Watson Insurance Agencies Ltd has four offices in the South West.

Over the years the client base has grown substantially with a significant bias towards commercial customers. The business writes around £10m for mostly commercial customers.

Matt Harlin, managing director of Brunel Insurance Brokers, said “Glentworth is a long established broker based in the South West with clients throughout the UK. Their reputation and professionalism was an instant attraction.

“I am delighted that the Glentworth directors will all remain with Brunel in the long term and am pleased the combined management team will ensure that all opportunities to grow the combined business will be utilised.

“Additionally we are welcoming 25 new colleagues to the business who will benefit from an enlarged merged business sharing the same values and ethos.

“These colleagues bring with them valuable experience and expertise and their contribution to the Brunel family will be key to the future success of the company”.

Group

Brunel Insurance Brokers launched in December 2017 was part of the Brunel Group to provide clients with insurance services for all commercial classes, with a focus on sophisticated corporate clients requiring a professional and advisory proposition.

The Brunel Group itself was established in 2005 to provide a broking service to businesses of all sizes within the professional indemnity sector.

Brunel Group chief executive, Russell Lane, said: “Finding brokers who fit our culture and core principals is becoming increasingly difficult.

“From the start we knew that Glentworth and Brunel share the same values.

“These values are always based around putting the clients first - something which I believe is sometimes lost elsewhere in the industry in its quest for saving money to boost profits of private equity investors or for cutting costs after large mergers.

“The hands-on, client-facing approach by the Glentworth board and the extra mile they go for clients sit squarely with Brunel.

“Decisions get made for the benefit of clients. It’s a great business which we plan to support and invest in.

“This is very much a merger of equals and I am really excited about working with everyone at Glentworth”.

Values

Following the merger, the group said it remains on track with its plan to double the size of the business by 2022.

Glentworth managing director, Gary Cox, added: “We were very wary of selling our business to consolidators as we were fearful clients would suffer and we believe that clients are more important than numbers on a spreadsheet.

“Brunel has gained a reputation within the UK insurance industry for providing high levels of client service, its technical ability and its ambitious growth plans.

“After discussing our ethos with Russell and Matt it became clear we share the same values. We are looking forward to working with them now and for many years to come.”

Glentworth will continue to trade as Glentworth Insurance Services Ltd from its existing offices.

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