Hodson-led broking group launches with £30m war-chest

Phillip Hodson will head up a new commercial broking group named Oval, which was formed following the acquisition of his firm RP Hodson. Its backers believe the new group will be one of the UK's top-ten national broking brands within a few years.

Mr Hodson, group chief executive of Oval, will be supported by Lochie Spearman as acquisitions director and Antony Pinsent, formerly a director of Aon Group, as chairman.

Last month Oval acquired RP Hodson, which has offices in London and Yorkshire, u