Weekly briefing: 13-19 May

After the chaos of the annual Biba conference in Manchester last week (check out the photos), the industry has had no time to take a breather. Anyone still nursing a Biba hangover was soon sobered up when the biggest broker deal of the year was announced. Talks between rival London market brokers Gallagher International and Heath Lambert had been ongoing for some time but the deal was eventually confirmed, with Gallagher’s US parents stumping up a cool £97m for Adrian Colosso’s Heath.

Gallagher chief executive David Ross now has the task of integrating the Heath business into Gallagher, now a top 10 UK brokerr, as it sets out on a journey to attack the highly competitive UK retail market. Colosso, who scooped around £1m from the sale, will head up Gallagher’s new retail arm in the UK and his brief is to make sure the business meets Gallagher’s estimate of contributing £20m earnings before income tax depreciation, amortisation and non-cash equity compensation (EBITDAC) by 2013. The market will be keeping a close eye on whether the acquisitive Gallagher’s appetite for a deal will see it swoop again.

Never say never again

First-quarter results have come in thick and fast. Aviva’s interim management statement threw up a big surprise, when it announced its return to the aggregator market. After falling out of love with aggregators in 2008, Aviva said it will return to price comparison sites under a new brand. The U-turn came as the insurer announced a rise in UK GI net premiums written (excluding health and group reinsurance) of 20% to £1.1bn from £913m in Q1 2010. The catalyst was the performance of its personal motor book, where it pushed through a 24% rate rise.

There were also positive signs of a turnaround at Ageas UK this week, with chief executive Barry Smith’s company posting a profit before tax of £3.8m in Q1 2011, compared with a loss of £3.2m in the same period last year.

RAC who’s bidding

Speculation surround the sale of RAC continues to rumble on since Insurance Times revealed the Aviva-owned breakdown recovery firm was on the block. After reporting that broking group Brightside was eyeing a deal last week, we revealed on Monday that former AXA UK chief executive Mark Wood is in talks with a consortium about bidding for the business. Read more about it in this week’s issue. Today, former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy was outed as an adviser to private equity firm Clayton Dubilier and Rice, who are also hoping to land RAC.

The Giles Files

After we revealed Giles’s 2010 accounts, we dug further into the numbers. Award-winning analyst John Borgars also offered his own take on Giles’s performance. Away from the results, Giles continues to shape its board. We revealed the appointment of former Brit Insurance director Matthew Scales as a non executive director. Interesting times ahead at Giles …

All change at RSA

RSA UK commercial boss Paul Donaldson has been promoted and will head up global broker relationships, working closer with the mega international brokers such as Aon, Marsh and Willis. It’s an interesting move by RSA as it attempts to adapt to the changing habits of these large brokers. In the UK, Jon Hancock has bit boots to fill, as he takes on Donaldson’s role. How will he be received by the market?

Occupational hazards

In this month’s The Knowledge in the main issue, we focused on professional risks and the impact on different sectors since the financial crisis. The coverage includes broker research, analysis of the biggest stories and trends, and expert predictions and views. Don’t miss it.

North by North West

Our latest Broker Briefing online brings attention to Mercury West Associates, a broker in the North West. We spoke to managing director Katie Small for an in-depth look at the company.

AXA few questions

After our exclusive interview with AXA Commercial chief executive Amanda Blanc in April, it was the turn of personal lines head Steve Hardy this week. Hardy detailed his ambitions to turn AXA into a top-three player and reveals his part in founding Swiftcover before the motor insurer was snapped up by AXA.

Danny Walkinshaw is digital news editor.