The broker will remain as a standalone business, but hopes to now target substantial growth as part of GRP 

Global Risk Partners (GRP) has acquired Five Insurance Brokers, based in Ipswich, Suffolk.

Five Insurance Brokers is a specialist provider of commercial insurance to the construction, manufacturing and process, haulage, motor trade and warehousing sectors.

The broker will remain as a standalone business in its current location, led by its incumbent management team, but according to Five Insurance Brokers director Rob Shurety, it is targeting substantial growth and added firepower from being part of GRP.

The deal completed on 16 February 2021, yet the consideration is undisclosed.

Stephen Ross, GRP’s head of M&A, said: “This is a high-quality business with an experienced, highly entrepreneurial management team. Five Insurance Brokers have good roots in East Anglia and give us a significant footprint in this part of the country.

Despite our announcing the major acquisition of Marsh Networks UK last week, this deal underlines the continued strength of our pipeline and that we continue to have a strong appetite to bring deals across the line.”

GRP is to make Five Insurance Brokers an Appointed Representative (AR) of the group post-completion.

Continuing economic uncertainty

Suffolk-based Five Insurance Brokers was founded in 2010 by five directors, this includes – Shurety, Jeremy Howard, Lindsay Drain, Stuart Paris and Simon Hughes.

All employees will remain with the business under its new ownership, although Howard has decided to step away from the business following the completion of the deal.

Shurety said: “At a time when we are seeing rates hardening across our specialist sectors, it is important that we obtain the best possible deals for our clients, maintaining the level of cover they need at the right price.

“As part of GRP, we’ll improve our access to senior decision makers within insurers, which will help us strike better deals for our clients.

“In summary, this is a great deal for Five Insurance Brokers and our clients and we are fully expecting to accelerate our profitable growth under new ownership.

“The continuing economic uncertainty brought about by the pandemic and Brexit was a factor in our decision to become part of GRP, where Mike [Bruce] and the team encourage the right balance between enabling us to continue to develop our brand and offering help and support when we need it.”