Broker acquisitions, a trip to Wembley and a party - another week at PB

Peter Cullum has continued his aggressive acquisition strategy with Cullum Capital Ventures dubbed by Cullum as ‘Towergate junior’ snapping up Lockton’s regional divisions. 72 staff will join CCV from offices in Guernsey, Jersey, Southampton, Newcastle and Nottingham with a total gross written premium of over £40m. Meanwhile, Towergate has completed the acquisition of Britinsurance, Maidstone-based Woodgate and Partners and Scottish broker McAcra. So far Cullum has completed 140 deals in under eleven years - and at his 10th anniversary party he revealed the first one was completed well after midnight –sleep appears to get in the way of business!

Meanwhile, broking group Brokerbility added five brokers: Manchester-based Caunce O’Hara, Richmond House Group in Stevenage, Churchill Insurance Consultants in Hendon, London-based Norman Butcher and Maidstone-based Potipher and Webb. This group of medium-sized brokers has added a further £92m of GWP, giving Brokerbility’s brokers a combined GWP of £400m. Brainchild of Brokerbility Brett and Randall’s Stuart Randall has hinted there are big plans afoot for the group, but will not reveal more for now.

Congratulations to Peter Elliott, marketing manager at St Paul Travelers I mean Travelers, for organising a great rebrand party at the Royal Exchange – the red umbrella, copious amounts of beer and champagne and broker friends were very welcome – however we were a little disturbed to think that romantic dinners on the first floor of the building may been interrupted by chief executive Martin Hudson talking about red umbrellas! (See an interview with Hudson in the February edition of PB).

And finally, thank you to Jamie Marchant and Pam Renfrew at Groupama who invited the PB editorial team to their seats at Wembley. Our verdict on the game? Rooney can’t play up front alone; Ashley Cole didn’t look match fit; 4-5-1 at home is not particularly ambitious; Joe Cole had a good first half; Rooney looked great on the left; Crouch made a big difference; overall first half was dire; the second half made up for it – in particular a dazzling dribble by Rooney. Wembley is a fantastic stadium and despite the seats being a very long way from our half time drinks, a great time was had by all – roll on the next invitation!