Towergate today purchased Paymentshield, the UK's largest independent supplier of mortgage-related general insurance products to the intermediary sector.
The announcement follows the management buy-in in 2004 led by Paymentshield chief executive Stuart Pender, and represents a successful exit for Bank of Scotland Corporate, which backed the original buy-in as the single largest investor.
Commenting on the purchase, Peter Cullum, Towergate's executive chairman, explained: "The fit with Paymentshield is excellent. They are committed to distributing through professional intermediaries, and we already have experience of providing leading insurance products to financial advisers through some of our existing operations."
Describing the move as "a very exciting new phase in Paymentshield's development", Stuart Pender added: "We have an aggressive organic and acquisition-led growth strategy, supported by the scale, skills and access to capital under the Towergate umbrella, while at the same time, retaining our independence."
Towergate's interest in acquiring Paymentshield was first reported by Insurance Times on 5 October in what was then rumoured to be a £200m deal.
Paymentshield also today confirmed that Royal & SunAlliance will become its buildings and contents insurance underwriter and Norwich Union will underwrite its MPPI products.
In addition, DAS will become directly responsible for underwriting home emergency and legal cover. The move follows the company's announcement in the spring that it was reviewing its underwriting contracts.
Commenting on the new underwriting partnerships, Pender said: "We as a company have gone through a tremendous period of growth recently, and the process of re-evaluating our underwriter relationships was critical to this continued progression."
Read also...
Towergate deal target
Towergate 'buy'
