Technology company Sword Group is poised to acquire four companies this year, with one a major broker software house.
Sword UK, which bought Lloyd's and London Market specialist Intech in November 2005, has aggressive plans to expand its insurance division. Sword UK chief executive Heath Davies said: "We have three big wins on the horizon in the next few months...and we are preparing to enter the broker space.
Intech managing director Tony Holland has been given the job of pursuing the acquisitions.
The company will also open a US office in the next month. Davies said the operation would build on Sword's New York infrastructure that was already in place to help "springboard into the wider US market".
Davies said that by 2010, he expected Intech revenues to have reached £30m, while his target for the whole insurance division, including the new US operation, would be £50m in revenue by the end of the decade.
Since 2000, when Sword was established by chief executive Jacques Mottard, the company's revenue has risen from €3m to €121.6m in 2005. Its EBIT last year was 15%, Davies said, and for next year the group target is €185m.
"Our objective is to gain brand awareness now. We are looking at ways to promote ourselves through marketing and advertising, which may even mean advertising on the side of black cabs later in the year," Heath added.
