Equity Insurance Group has today purchased Bridgwater broker, Squibbs Insurance Consultants. It is its eighteenth regional acquisition in just 12 months.

The undisclosed value deal swells the group's UK branch network to almost 80, "Well on target," says Mike Hutton, Equity's acquisition director, "to achieve an anticipated 100 branches by the end of 2008."

Squibbs Insurance Consultants was owned by John Culleton who was a junior partner in the company which acquired it in 1988; five years later he bought out the other partners and grew the business through a number of local acquisitions. It was originally established in the late 19th century,

Hutton adds: "Our acquisition strategy remains aggressive; the group is at the legal stage of half a dozen further deals and the funding is in place for larger purchases that fit our criteria."

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