Hodges to continue acquisition drive at Towergate

Mr Lyons told Insurance Age: "There are still three thousand independent insurance brokers in the sector so there is plenty more possible consolidation. That alongside organic growth of our existing businesses is our strategy.

"Mark has obviously discussed in detail how we see the business going forward before he joined and wouldn't be joining if he wasn't himself in tune with those same strategic objectives."

Describing himself as "absolutely delighted" to have captured Mr Hodges' signature for the role of chief executive Mr Lyons pinpointed the attributes of established relationships with brokers and insurers alongside the experience of having sat as an executive director on the main board of a major listed company as being part of making Mr Hodges ideal for the role.

"We made no secret of the fact that we looked at internal [candidates] as well as external," he said.

"We have a strong management team here of very highly experienced individuals who have been very successful in this business and they set a high bar for external comparators. They will view that Mark, in terms of what he has done before and the range of his own experience, will add value to this business alongside them."

Starting gun
He added that with Andy Homer remaining as chief executive until Mr Hodges assumed the role in October would ensure a smooth transition especially as Mr Homer will be remaining with the broker in a non-executive role.

Mr Lyons also made clear the appointment did not mark "the starting gun to an IPO process".

He explained: "The one thing that you know when you bring in a private equity investor is that at some point they are going to want to exit. But if you look at Advent's track record they are a medium term investor and they see the ability to grow significant value within this business.

"But at some point Advent, existing shareholders and management will sit down and determine that it is right for us to realise value and clearly IPO is one of the ways in which you can do that. There is nothing imminent or scheduled in but it is good to have the capabilities to equip yourself for that as one of the options."