London – LAWFUEL – The Law Firm Newswire – DLA Piper has advised Towergate Partnership Limited (“Towergate”), the UK’s largest independently owned insurance intermediary, on its recommended £95 million public offer for the entire issued share capital of Broker Network Holdings plc (“Broker Network”), the leading AIM listed insurance broking network organisation. This is the first time that Towergate has made an offer for a publicly listed company.
Broker Network is the largest network for independent commercial insurance brokers in the UK and the transaction represents the next stage in Towergate’s growth strategy of establishing an insurance broking network alongside its existing owner brokers and underwriting managing general agents. The transaction brings significant scale benefits to Broker Network and its members, such as enhanced terms with underwriters, which Broker Network would otherwise be unable to achieve, and specialist product knowledge.
Towergate consists of a number of specialist underwriting agencies and regional brokers providing a wide range of specialist and non-specialist general insurance products in partnership with a core group of capacity providers with whom the underwriting risk is placed.
The DLA Piper team was led by Corporate partner Mel Sims, assisted by Kate Francis, Jenny Perkins, Jennifer Chase and Chris Williams.
Commenting on the acquisition, Mel Sims said: “It has been a busy year for Towergate and one in which we have been fortunate to play a major role. This year has seen Towergate complete its biggest acquisition ever of Open GI and with the recommended offer to acquire Broker Network, the company is now very firmly in the public company area in terms of potential target acquisitions.”
