Oval – the return of the consolidator?

So Peter Blanc has set out his stall at Oval and revealed some interesting plans. But what will look different under his leadership?

As revealed yesterday in the first part of an exclusive interview on insurancetimes.co.uk, Blanc put Oval back on the acquisition trail with a particular focus on small brokers.

Oval has been quiet on the acquisition front in the past few years but Blanc has different ideas. He says that small brokers face a struggle when attempting to exit their businesses because of a lack of options. This, he says, hasn’t changed since Towergate founder and non-executive chairman Peter Cullum began building his empire by snapping up small independent brokers to grow Towergate.

However the industry might well point out that small brokers do in fact have more favourable opportunities. For example, networks have risen up the pecking order and many have introduced offerings to help small brokers, while acquisition vehicles such as Stuart Randall’s Ataraxia have been launched to allow owners of small brokers to step back while not losing control of their business.

So how will Oval convince small brokers that it is the one? It’s highly unlikely Blanc will pay over the odds to buy out businesses in the current climate. Nor will he want a repeat of the deals done prior to 2009, which has left a small group of minority shareholders holding on to shares that they have yet to be able to convert into cash.

Former chief executive Philip Hodson rejected the tag of consolidator. But with the new face of Oval putting acquisitions back on the radar, it might not be long before that label returns.