Giles - Charterhouse Capitol Partners acquires Giles Insurance Brokers

Charterhouse Capitol Partners acquires Giles Insurance Brokers

£500 million available to fund ambitious acquisition plan

Leading independent broker Giles Insurance Brokers Limited ("Giles") has been acquired by private equity firm Charterhouse Capital Partners ("Charterhouse").

Charterhouse and Bank of Scotland Corporate are providing Giles with £500 million of funding in order to accelerate Giles’ consolidation of smaller commercial brokers across the UK. Giles’ previous private equity investors, Gresham Private Equity, have sold their minority stake as part of the deal. The deal value is undisclosed.

Chief Executive Chris Giles is rolling over 80% of his proceeds from the Charterhouse investment into the company and will retain 20% of the shares, with Giles’ management and staff controlling a further 15%.

Giles is one of the UK’s fastest growing commercial insurance brokers and Charterhouse’s backing will allow the company to escalate its acquisition strategy and build a business with £1 billion of Gross Written Premium. Chris Giles, Chief Executive Officer of Giles, said: "This is an excellent deal for Giles and will allow us to compete with the major players in the industry. As well as providing us with a significant war chest in order to fund our acquisition drive, the deal also tidies up our shareholder base, allowing us to concentrate on growing the company. There is no doubt that having this funding available will signal a major transformation of the company."

"We are now looking to hire some of the very best people in the industry in order to progress our ambitious plans for Giles and we expect to be in a position to announce some senior appointments in the very near future. The senior people we are looking to hire will be given the opportunity to participate in the equity of the company, ensuring they all have an incentive for helping Giles progress. The level of investment by Charterhouse demonstrates their faith in our ability to deliver value and become a UK-leading broker. We believe this creates the right environment to attract both the very best people and high quality acquisitions."

The deal was led by Charterhouse’s Malcolm Offord, who said: "We are delighted to be backing Chris Giles and his team to expand Giles and create a commercial insurance broker which can compete with the largest brokers in the country. The level of our commitment to Giles is evident in the funding provided. We believe consolidation in the UK commercial broking sector is set to continue and that Giles is an exceptional business to build upon. We are selective about the investments we make, and look to back strong management teams. It is clear in talking to Chris that he shares our culture and vision and has the drive to achieve the ambitious expansion we envisage for Giles."

Giles, headquartered in Glasgow, currently operates through a national network of 31 branches. Malcolm Offord and Frank van den Bosch from Charterhouse will join the Giles board. Altium acted as financial advisor to Giles’ management.