19.11.08 : Central Insurance buys Peart
Scotland's largest independent insurance brokers, Central Insurance Services Ltd, have acquired leading high performance car insurance specialist, Peart Insurance Brokers Ltd and its trading arm Performance Marque, in a 1.5 million deal.

The deal, which was supported by The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will see Cumbrian-based Peart continue to trade under the Peart and Performance Marque brands as part of the Central Insurance umbrella. Peart has an estimated 7000 policy holders and its 12-strong staff will join the Central Insurance payroll.

Aberdeen based Central Insurance say the deal provided a valuable add-on service which will benefit existing high net worth private clients who own or have invested in high performance or classic cars.

Central Insurance managing director, Iain Henry, said: "Peart and Performance Marque are well established and highly respected as specialist motor insurance providers in England and we identified a gap in the Scottish market to provide the same services.

"It is an excellent fit with our existing household insurance and commercial insurance business arms. A significant number of our clients are high net worth individuals and this further strengthens our presence in the prestige and classic car market and gives us a competitive advantage."

Kat Blayden-Byrne, Peart Insurance general manager, said: "This is excellent news for our Kendal based staff and gives us a platform to take our specialist skills and services in to a new market.

"We are delighted to become part of a very well established and respected company and are ready to play a leading role in the ongoing success of Central Insurance with expansion of the Peart and Performance Marque brands."

Mr Henry said Peart would continue to operate from its Kendal headquarters as a separate Financial Services Authority approved entity. An ongoing exchange of staff between Aberdeen and Kendal will develop expertise across both locations.

He added: "The deal underlines our determination to protect our position as Scotland's largest independent insurance broker while seeking out growth opportunities that fit with our core commercial and retail insurance business.

"We are looking forward to welcoming the team at Peart in to the Central Insurance fold and they have been reassured by the fact that we are an independently owned concern who have been in the business for 35 years and which can bring strength and depth to their existing offering."

ARCHIVE STORIES

24.09.08 : More Sub Brokers turning to Peart
15.08.08 : Peart doubles turnover to almost 1M on 2nd Birthday
07.01.08 : Peart buys Performance Marque
08.10.07 : Peart offers breakdown cover as standard
30.05.07 : Peart now offering motor insurance for perfessional sports person
12.05.07 : Hard to place bikers now welcome at Peart
06.03.07 : Peart now offering motor inscrance for footabllers
21.02.07 : Peart move into bike insurance
19.01.07 : Peart offer Sub Borkers new serice
11.01.07 : Marketing Co-Ordinator joins Peart