Needham Insurance buys Sheffield broker

The move takes Nuneaton-based Needham’s total gross written premium to £8m.

Baldersons senior management team and staff all remain as part of the business, and will stay in the current premises in Sheffield.

The Baldersons brand, established in 1972, will also continue.

This is Needham’s sixth acquisition since managing director Neal Lowe acquired the business in 2000 and follows the integration of Inspire Insurance Services and their customers in November 2020.

Needham confirmed that the business is targeting over £20m of gross written premium by 2025 through a combination of organic growth and further acquisitions. The broker currently has a book of around 80% commercial lines and 20% personal lines.

Fit

Lowe commented: “I am really pleased to have got this deal over the line in the first half of 2022, and we warmly welcome all staff and customers of Baldersons Insurance to the Needham family.

“We’re delighted to have them on board, it’s a fantastic acquisition and a perfect fit for us. We’d like to reassure everyone it really is business as usual for all staff and valued customers moving forward.”

Lowe also indicated that he hoped to announce further acquisitions before the end of 2022.

He added: “By 2025 we would like to have seven or eight branches, all with the same ethos of being local experts, fully independent and community-based brokers. Our target brokers are £2m-3m GWP whereby we can help grow these organically via marketing and with access to additional schemes.

“We fully welcome owners staying on post-deal to help with integration and to also look after their own long-standing customers. This model has worked well for us historically as we’re not about consolidation, quite the opposite. We are community insurance brokers hoping to boost the local economy.”

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