Aston Lark announces its second round of M&A activity within a week

Aston Lark has bought two new brokers, just days after announcing it had snapped up Amlin’s pleasure boat business.

Both brokers, Alliance Limited and Risk Alliance International Limited are being bought from parent group Risk Alliance Group.

Risk Alliance Ltd is a schemes broker based in Bingley, West Yorkshire, specialising in photographers, leisure and non-standard household risks.

Risk Alliance International is based in Belfast, and specialises in placing haulage and logistics business.

The two companies look after £12m in GWP. The deal will see 14 members of staff join Aston Lark from Bingley and nine from Belfast.

Last week Aston Lark bought Amlin’s UK yacht book of business, one of the nine classes of business Amlin was seeking to offload as it changes its strategy. 

Amlin will still underwrite the policies, however.

Risk Alliance Group is owned by insurer Accelerant, which bought the business in September 2019. That acquisiton included underwriting business NBS.

Accelerant’s head of distribution Chris Lee-Smith said the sale of the intermediaries had been on the cards for sometime. 

“Accelerant is a pure underwriting group and, as such, it was always our intention to partner with a broker to find the next home for the broking businesses acquired with the acquisition of Risk Alliance Group,” he said.

”Aston Lark were the natural partner for us as we wanted to find an excellent long-term home for the quality teams in Belfast and Bingley. This deal leaves Accelerant with NBS, which is a pure underwriting entity.”

Commenting on the deal, Aston Lark chief executive Peter Blanc said: “Geographically, both acquisitions are an excellent fit for Aston Lark giving us our first presence in Northern Ireland and our first presence in Yorkshire.

”We look forward to working with the management teams, comprising Adrian Wilson and Gareth Morgan in Belfast and Daphne Pickles, Daniel Hobson and Abbie Mason in Bingley, to help them to grow in their various areas of specialism.”

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