Chase Templeton completes last major deal of 2015

Private medical insurance consolidator Chase Templeton has completed its last major deal of 2015 through the asset purchase of Healthcare Partners, the Braintree intermediary which traded under the Avanti Healthcare brand.

The acquisition brings a further £6.8m of annual premium income (API) and over 1,500 clients to the fast-growing business. Around 60 per cent of that income is generated through SME policies, further strengthening Chase Templeton’s position in its core market within the company medical insurance sector.

Glen Smith, chief executive of Avanti Healthcare, said: “My colleagues and I have spent nearly 20 years nurturing Avanti Healthcare into a very successful, well-respected and well-known specialist broker. When I decided to focus resource and attention on our growing travel business I sought a buyer who would not only let me realise the value of assets, but inspire confidence that Avanti Healthcare clients would continue to benefit from the best possible advice and service.

Jeff Tate, Chase Templeton’s mergers and acquisition director, said: “Avanti brings to us not just a sizeable but a high quality SME client base as indeed did Atlas and Consilium. These and other acquisition, completed and to be concluded, place us firmly on the path towards becoming one of, if not the, key national player in the crucial SME space.”

Avanti’s SME clients will be serviced via Chase Templeton’s Corporate Centre of Excellence at its headquarters in Darwen, Lancashire. Nearly 1,000 private individual policies will be managed by a specialist team at the Individual Centre of Excellence in Bridgwater, Somerset. Founded in 2002 Chase Templeton now protects in excess of 110,000 lives, manages nearly £150m in API and employs over 100 staff in Darwen, Bridgwater and a new Greater London hub which opened in Bromley last month.