Duo of deals kick off Chase Templeton's 2016 acquisitions

Private medical insurance consolidator Chase Templeton has sealed its first deals of 2016 with the acquisition of Health Equity Solutions Ltd. and Caledonian Health Solutions.

The purchases bring a further £2.15m in annual premium income and nearly 370 predominantly SME clients to the fast-growing Darwen headquartered business.

Health Equity Solutions was the Preston-based corporate vehicle of well-respected health insurance adviser Paul Nugent with Caledonian Health Solutions, of Kelso, that of Graham Coates. Paul has exited in order to pursue new challenges whilst Mr Coates is retiring.

Chase Templeton’s mergers and acquisitions director, Jeff Tate, said: “These are both very solid books, offered to us by vendors exiting for different reasons but united in their desire not just to realise the value of their assets, but to place their clients in hands they can trust.

“These are strong, SME-oriented client bases which have been carefully nurtured and which we believe will benefit from the added value which Chase Templeton, with the additional resource we can commit, will deliver.

“This year will in very many ways echo 2015 as we look to seal a number of significant deals to consolidate our position as one of the leading players in the UK private medical insurance market, with an eye to becoming the biggest within the SME space."

Paul Nugent said: “The decision to sell Health Equity Solutions was very much driven by a belief that going forward a larger and more influential organisation could better serve clients within an increasingly competitive and regulated market. Because of the strong relationship we already enjoyed and the mutual trust and respect that fostered, Chase Templeton was a natural home.”

The deals are the latest concluded under Chase Templeton’s highly successful “buy and build” strategy which has seen it acquire well over 50 businesses and books since securing the backing of Palatine Private Equity in 2013. It comes after the company added some £40m in API in the last quarter (Oct-Dec 2015) alone following the purchases of Healthcare Partners, Atlas Consulting Group and Consilium Employee Benefits.

Chase Templeton, which serves individual clients from its offices in Bridgwater, Somerset and last November opened a Greater London hub in Bromley and manages in excess of £150m API. Acquisitive and organic growth have seen the company significantly expand its workforce. Payroll has more than doubled since 2013 with the business set to employ around 115 staff by the end of January. Having only moved into its current headquarters in November 2013 the company has just signed a new lease on adjacent offices in order to accommodate its growing workforce.