Howden Broking Group, an independent insurance and reinsurance broker, has reached an agreement to acquire St Giles Legal & Professional Risks.
St Giles is a professional indemnity insurance broker specialising in the UK solicitor space, a market in which Howden is currently a leading provider.
The acquisition of St Giles further cements Howden as the adviser of choice in the professional indemnity sector, taking the total number of UK law firms it represents to more than 1,000.
Mark Westgarth, Managing Director, UK Regions, Howden, said: “St Giles is a highly regarded and specialist broker of professional indemnity insurance. We are delighted to be bringing our talents together for the long-term benefit of our collective client base.
“We can offer greater scale and a depth of expertise that, combined with the experts at St Giles, will deliver better solutions for our mutual clients, in what are currently very challenging market conditions for them. We always strive to be part of the solution to tough challenges and our investment in additional expertise again demonstrates our strong and long term commitment to the UK legal sector.
“St Giles is a company that we at Howden have known for many years. As is so often the case with our acquisitions, we buy companies with whom we have a long history and have built up trust and respect.”
Following the deal, Senior Directors Mark Thomsen and Simon Gale will take on roles in Howden’s 300+ strong Financial Lines Group with fellow Director, Malcolm Gordon, providing consultancy support.
On the acquisition, Thomsen said: “Simon and I are delighted to be joining Howden, which is a well-respected leader in the professional indemnity market. We know this is in the best interests of our clients and we are pleased to be joining such an experienced team.”
This announcement follows news last week that Howden had agreed to acquire one of the largest personal and commercial lines insurance brokers in the UK, A-Plan Group.
