GRP’s Green Insurance Group buys two Brighton-based brokers

Green Insurance Group, the south eastern hub business for Global Risk Partners (GRP), has acquired 100% of the share capital of R T Williams Insurance Brokers (RTW) and NIB Insurance Brokers (NIB), an appointed representative of RTW, in a move designed to strengthen the firm’s regional footprint.

RTW and NIB operate from the same office in Brighton, East Sussex. The two brokerages write a range of general insurance products, including property, commercial and personal lines, primarily in Sussex, Surrey and the London area.

Following the acquisition, both RTW and NIB will retain their current office and branding. Senior leaders will also remain in their positions, including Chris Williams, managing director at RTW, and Leo Hetherington, managing director at NIB.

Greens chief executive Duncan Coleman said: “These two quality businesses with a strong heritage are an excellent fit for Greens and add considerably to our south eastern region footprint.

“All of us at Greens warmly welcome Chris Williams, Leo Hetherington and their teams and look forward to assisting them to rapidly accelerate their growth post purchase.”

This marks Greens second acquisition of 2020. In March, the firm bought 100% of the share capital of Hastings-based retail broker Manor Insurance Services.

Taking advantage of scale

For RTW and NIB, the acquisition aims to provide a multitude of opportunities.

Williams, for example, feels that RTW can utilise the scale of GRP for business growth.

He said: “The business has traded independently for 70 years but the time is right to become part of a bigger, highly ambitious group where we can take advantage of GRP’s scale, broaden our product range and further enhance the service for our clients through our dedicated team.”

Hetherington added that he was “delighted with the opportunity this transaction brings to [the] business, team and more importantly, clients, and is looking forward to working with the Greens team to continue to drive the business forward.”

Acquisition trail

Despite the continuing Covid-19 outbreak hampering many business plans, GRP group managing director Mike Bruce said that GRP’s hubs all “have strong acquisition pipelines and we expect to be announcing further deals in due course”.

He continued: “Despite the challenges of COVID-19, GRP remains fully committed to its proven strategy of acquiring quality owner-managed brokers who want to generate value from their work, while remaining with their businesses to share in our successful future.”

He added that the acquisitions “underline that it is very much business as usual for our retail broking division, following the announcement in February that Searchlight Capital Partners is investing in GRP.

“With Searchlight’s significant capital resources and our considerable growth ambitions, I fully expect that we will be announcing further deals in the coming weeks.”

Greens writes personal and commercial insurance, specifically in property and SME. The company has its own unique wordings for property, commercial combined, shops and offices, motor trade and professional indemnity policies. The organisation has 10 branches in the South, including its regional central office in Bexhill.