Chase Templeton maintains momentum with acquisition of Leeds advisory firm

Private medical insurance consolidator Chase Templeton has maintained the momentum of its successful buy and build strategy with the acquisition of Independent Health Insurance Services.

The deal is the third to be completed this calendar year by the acquisition hungry company and brings in a further 540 clients and £1.56m of annual premium income, some 60 percent of which comes from the SME segment in which Chase Templeton is now a major player.

The deal is the latest in well over 50 completed since Chase Templeton secured private equity backing from Manchester-based finance house, Palatine Private Equity.

It follows Chase Templeton’s purchases of Health Equity Solutions and Caledonian Health Solutions last month. Those deals added £2.15m of again predominantly SME generated API.

Leeds-based Independent Health Insurance Services was founded in 2002 by Wayne Jackson who has decided to pursue other business interests.

Commenting on his decision, he said: “When I decided to sell-up, Chase Templeton, being the biggest and most pro-active consolidator in the market, was an obvious and attractive choice.

"Not only does the company have the funds available to facilitate smooth transactions, but the experience and infrastructure necessary to integrate and take good care of the acquired client base. Having personally spent many years in building the book and the personal relationships that accompanied it, I was keen to see it placed in trustworthy hands.”

Chase Templeton’s mergers and acquisitions director, Jeff Tate, said: “Independent Health Insurance Services managed a strong portfolio of SME clients to which we think, by virtue of our size and broad spectrum expertise, can bring added value.

“The book is an excellent fit in terms of our relatively short-term ambition to become market leader in the SME space whilst, the 400 individual clients who are joining us further balance our portfolio.”

Individual clients will be served via the company’s Individuals Centre of Excellence in Bridgwater, Somerset with business policies administered through the SME equivalent at Chase Templeton’s headquarters in Darwen, Lancashire.

That growth was forced by a significant expansion of the workforce which has more than doubled since 2013 with 115 staff now employed in Darwen, Bridgwater and a recently opened Greater London hub in Bromley, Kent. Through both acquisitive and organic growth the company now manages over £150m in API.