GRP buys Durham-based Castle Insurance Services

It is the first deal in this part of the country for GRP.

Head of M&A Stephen Ross said Castle will become its base in the North East from which to grow the UK retail business footprint further through acquisition and organic growth.

“We have been searching for a well-established, dynamic brokerage in the North East for some time, and we are really pleased to acquire Castle, a well-regarded, family-owned brokerage which has grown fast since it was established in 1990,” he stated.

Accelerate

Ross added: “We found with previous regional acquisitions that, once we have established a footprint in a particular geography, we are able to accelerate our pipeline of deal opportunities thanks to the local knowledge and contacts generated by the acquired business. We are confident of achieving a similar trajectory with the Castle team.”

Castle was founded by Paul Younger, with his brother Phil joining the fledging business soon afterwards. Paul and Phil are joint managing directors.

The firm operates from offices in Durham with a second office in Newton Aycliffe, and writes a wide range of commercial insurances, as well as some personal lines business.

All the current team will remain with the business under new ownership, and it will retain its brand and offices.

The deal follows the news that GRP is to be bought by US-giant Brown & Brown in a £1.48bn deal which was announced in March.

The move will see GRP staff able to buy shares in the company.

Growth

Paul Younger commented: “This is a perfect moment for us to join the GRP family of businesses. We have seen how other GRP acquisitions have grown rapidly as a result of the added firepower provided by the parent and we want to achieve the same.”

“There is a wealth of opportunity in the North East for entrepreneurial brokerages such as ours, and we look forward to being a key part of GRP’s ambitious plans for this part of the world.”

The deal has received regulatory approval and the consideration is undisclosed.

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