Autonet chairman: “I’ve rejected offers for the firm”

Autonet chairman Glynn Keeling has revealed that he has had a number of offers for the business, but rejected them because he wants to carry on fulfilling the firm’s ambitious growth plans.

He said: “I have had a lot of offers, but it’s not just me, loads of independent brokers throughout the land will have had all sorts of offers, I’m sure of it.

“We look at them, and if I thought it was some kind of amazing figure, maybe I would have sold. But I haven’t seen anything yet that stops me wanting to be part of the future of Autonet. It’s an exciting time, I want to carry on doing it. Somebody would have to come up with a sensational offer for me to not want to do that.”

Keeling conceded that some of the talk over the sale of Autonet could be because of the interest from bidders, but he said he wanted to nip the talk in the bud. Recent speculation has linked directors with a management buyout of the business.

Autonet wants to achieve £100m gross written premium this year.

“I am not selling, I’m not doing a change of control, I’m the chairman of Autonet Insurance and that’s the way it’s going to stay. We’ve got ambitious targets for the future and that’s the way it’s going to stay,” he said.