Highway Insurance Holdings has acquired personal lines specialist broker A Quote Insurance Services.
The £4.6m consideration, consisting of £4.18m in cash and the balance in Highway shares and unsecured loan notes, was the first acquisition for Highway's retail division, said the company.
The consideration will be met from Highway's existing financial resources.
A Quote is expecting to generate pre-tax profits of £0.6m from a turnover of £5.2m for the year ending 31 October 2004, it said.
The acquisition will trade alongside Elite Insurance Services, Highway's specialist motorcycle broker, within the retail division.
A Quote's two founding directors, Mark Bower-Dyke and Andrew Dunkerley, will remain in day-to-day charge of the business. The company operates from a call centres in Andover, and an office in Basingstoke.
Highway Retail managing director Paul Cosh, said: “This first acquisition is the start of Highway's ambitious drive to purchase a portfolio of well managed and profitable insurance intermediaries.
“A Quote was attractive to us because of its strong internet presence, its efficient call centre operation and its focus on motor business – our specialist product area.
“Our objective in buying retail businesses like A Quote is to develop a new profit stream for Highway that is less affected by the cyclical nature of premium rates than general insurance underwriting.”
