PIB Group boosts headcount by acquiring retail automotive software firm

Intermediary organisation PIB Group has completed its fifth acquisition for this year, purchasing software business Cooper Solutions, which operates in the retail automotive sector.

Formed in 2001, Cooper Solutions provides a portfolio of online solutions. The business’s core product is a web-based fleet management system that tracks all vehicle movements within a dealership; this includes the provision of a daily rate insurance for customer courtesy, demonstration and rental car loans. Currently, this service insures around 12,000 retailer cars a day.

Since 2004, the daily rate insurance product has been provided through insurer Cooke and Mason, which PIB Group already owns. Cooke and Mason specialises in offering insurance to the motor trade and haulage sectors.

Cooper Solutions’s existing 34 Barford, Warwickshire-based employees, as well as the firm’s owners Barry Cooper and Peter Cooper, will all remain with the business following the acquisition. Dean Pipitone has been appointed as managing director.

Acquisition trail

The transaction marks PIB Group’s 24^th acquisition since 2016 and its fifth since the start of the year. So far in 2019, the firm has bought Irish MGA Optis Insurance, the Cobra group of companies, which is a broker, credit insurer CMR Insurance Services as well as health and safety consultancy Sue Smith.

PIB Group now employs around 1,400 staff.

Barry Cooper said: “We’re delighted that PIB is investing in us and we are looking forward to providing our clients with access to a broader range of products and services through PIB. We place high value on the relationships we have with our customers, many of whom have been with us since our inception.”

Brendan McManus, chief executive at PIB Group, added: “I’m very pleased to welcome the team at Cooper Solutions who have worked closely with our experts at Cooke and Mason for almost 15 years.

“Their proven expertise in providing digital solutions to the automotive industry will open up new conversations and opportunities for our clients at Cooke and Mason. Likewise, we look forward to providing Cooper Solutions’s clients with further specialist advice and support from across the Group.

“PIB is only four years old and we have been growing every year since we formed. We have acquired some fantastic businesses and 2019 has been another successful year thanks to the hard work and dedication of all our people.

“Looking ahead, it’s going to be another exciting ride as we start our international adventure.”

Cooper Solutions’s portfolio also includes performance forecasting and financial management, used car stock management, electronic appraisal and online trade vehicle auction.