Insurance division of collapsed property services giant announces new name.
Erinaceous Insurance Services (EIS), the former insurance division of the property services giant which collapsed in April, has announced plans to rebrand as Barbon Insurance Group.
Executive chairman Leslie Goodman said the move, which comes into effect in August, would distance EIS from reputational issues that have dogged the business during the past two years.
Goodman admitted EIS was under attack from rivals including Towergate, which has taken more than 20 EIS staff in the past year.
“We are under some pressure,” Goodman said. “But we are in very good shape. If this is as bad as its going to get, we have little to worry about.”
EIS, which has a brokerage of £25.5m and posted 2007 pre-tax profits of £14.5m, was recently taken over by the company’s banks after they rejected an offer in excess of £100m from Zurich.
Goodman said the company planned to develop new engineering and property owners’ products, as well as rationalising its legal expenses cover.
The new name is derived from Dr Nicholas Barbon, the man understood to have introduced fire insurance for buildings after the Great Fire of London.
