US-firm AssuredPartners buys Borland Insurance as it grows UK footprint

AssuredPartners has bought Scottish broker Borland Insurance for an undisclosed sum, Insurance Age can reveal.

The US-headquartered broker said in a statement that the transaction has received regulatory approval and will complete on 1 February 2021.

It further detailed that the team of 30 will remain with the business and under the leadership of Borland CEO, John Silcock.

Borland was founded in 1995 and has offices in Edinburgh, Aberdeenshire, Fife and Colchester. It provides insurance for commercial and private clients and has GWP of around £14m.

According to AssuredPartners, Borland particularly focuses on providing insurance cover for all forms of business risks ranging from property exposure to general and employer’s liability, contractors and professional liability.

Deal
The move is not AssuredPartners first deal in the UK. In 2019 it purchased Birmingham-based Hettle Andrews & Associates.

AssuredPartners, founded in 2011, describes itself as one of the fastest growing independent brokers in the United States.

The business is headquartered in Florida and over the years it has bought more than 325 insurance brokers. It now has over 190 offices in 34 states, the United Kingdom and Belgium.

It added that this latest acquisition adds to its “expanding footprint in the UK retail brokerage space”.

Opportunities
David Heathfield, CEO of AssuredPartners in the UK, said: “We look forward to working with John and his team and feel confident that the values upon which Borland has been built will prove to be a great fit with how we operate here at AssuredPartners.

“We are very excited about establishing a presence in Scotland and look forward to using the market knowledge that John has gained over the years as a platform from which to identify further acquisition opportunities across the UK in the near future.”

John Silcock, CEO, Borland Insurance, added: “We were in the privileged position of having a great deal of interest in our business, but it quickly became clear that AssuredPartners offered something different to the other acquirers out there.

“The cultural synergies between ourselves and AssuredPartners were obvious from the outset of our conversations. This gave me the comfort that post acquisition our clients would remain paramount to our service offering, whilst at the same time allowing the Borland team to be an integral part of the exciting project of growing the AssuredPartners’ operation across the UK retail space.”

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