Thinking of selling your Brokerage?

Talk to us about the future of your business. Joining forces with Aston Lark could be the perfect solution.

GET IN TOUCH
We are extremely proud of the business we have built and our overriding goal is to become the UK’s most trusted Chartered insurance broker and Employee Benefits advisor.

We would love the opportunity to speak with other brokers that want to share in this journey. Strategic acquisitions are an important part of our growth plans and we are happy to consider all types of acquisitions including:

  • Purchasing specific books of business
  • Staggered purchases
  • Acquisitions of limited companies 
  • Fully upfront purchases 
  • Earn-out purchases

We would be delighted to discuss all options with you.

Our portfolio

Aston Lark currently places £1.3 billion of premium per annum on behalf of its clients (as at January 2023).

Our regional branch network now expands to more than 75 offices across the UK and Ireland and we have 2,100 staff in the business.

Our people are a key focus and we have a strong management team in place to push the business forward.

Be part of our journey

We have had a wealth of experience of acquiring businesses over the years but just as importantly we have met with many hundreds of brokers and we believe we can really help you to make the right decision even if that means selling to another broker, undertaking a management buy-out, seeking your own venture capital funding or continuing with your current business. We want to make sure that any businesses we acquire are a great fit both for Aston Lark and for you, so the best way forward is a confidential discussion to talk through your needs and wants and see whether they gel with our ambitions.

If you would like to have an informal and confidential discussion regarding your business, please contact Peter Blanc on 01206 655399.

Testimonials

Insurer testimonials 

AXA enjoys a long standing and positive relationship with Aston Lark and values the distribution strength, client focus and management disciplines that the business brings to both day-to-day trading and longer term business planning.”
AXA

Aston Lark is a ‘powerhouse’ broker, of considerable scale with a particularly strong footprint in the most dynamic and wealthy region of the UK economy. The reputation of the business is first-class. We intend to continue to grow our partnership in the coming years as we look to meet changing and complex customer needs.“
Aviva

“Aston Lark are one of a few brokers in our Strategic Partner segment and we are able to work at all levels of our respective businesses to enable us to successfully service our customers and build mutually profitable long term strategies.”
Allianz

“We are seeing more and more proactive conversations being started by Aston Lark on potential new business for Zurich than ever before and we’ve seen ideal conversations on held cases which support the strong retention experienced across the South East.”
Zurich

Acquisition testimonials 

“There are currently plenty of potential acquirers within the insurance market. When embarking on our sale, there were a few imperatives that we felt were essential in achieving success: (i) we needed to have direct engagement with the decision makers within the acquirer, (ii) there needed to be a clear cultural fit and (iii) the acquirer had to have a strong market reputation for successful acquisitions. Aston Lark clearly fulfilled these imperatives. Throughout this process we have found the approach from Peter and his senior team, Tim and Stuart to be fair, transparent and supportive. Their approach throughout has provided considerable comfort and reinforced our decision that Aston Lark are the most suitable acquirer of our business. We feel that this is not so much a sale but more becoming part of a larger more influential market participant – exciting times.”
Andrew Low, Robertson Low

“From the very first contact, we have been very pleased with the way that the Aston Lark acquisition team of Peter Blanc, Stuart Rootham and Tim Holland have dealt with us. It always felt very comfortable and transparent throughout up to and including completion. When we had concerns, the team listened and were proactive in finding the right solution.”
Steve Turner, Pharos

“The care that Aston Lark showed for our business, clients and staff that underlined that their deal was the right deal for us. Since being hived up into the Group, we now enjoy the benefits of working in a larger organisation with support in areas such as IT, Compliance and Regulation. If I was re-selling Bell & Co, I would again choose Peter, Stuart and the team over others – it has been a really good transaction for all stakeholders in our business.”
Richard Salt, AH Bell

“We were looking for a cultural fit as well as a reasonable price for the business. We did not want to sell our soul. As a Chartered Insurance Broker, the same as IHN, Aston Lark was an obvious choice. By October we had received a formal offer and in February 2019 the deal was complete. Whilst, by its very nature, due diligence is timeconsuming, Peter, Tim and Stuart made the process as painless as possible with any issues or queries discussed and resolved openly and in a spirit of collaboration rather than confrontation. With the depth of knowledge and resources available plus the access to Schemes we are very much looking forward to the future.”
Neale Ingram, IHN

About you and your business

Considering the next steps for your business is a really important process.  We have a wealth of experience of acquiring businesses over the years but, just as importantly, we have met with many brokers to help them make the right decision, even if that means selling to another broker, seeking your own venture capital funding or continuing with your current business.  We want to make sure that any business we acquire is a great fit both for Aston Lark and for you.

We find that the best way forward is to arrange a confidential discussion to talk through your needs and wants.  In order to help frame the discussion, there are some key pieces of information that would really help.  We have detailed below a helpful checklist of information that you can use as an aide-memoire for what would be needed throughout the process.

We look forward to discussing the future with you in confidence.

Description of Business

Please include:

  • Organisation chart
  • Source of new business –  any reliance on key  business developers?
  • Details of any specialist  areas of business
  • Details of any previous professional indemnity  claims or potential claims
  • Copy of your last PI  renewal form
  • Details of any significant customers – e.g. any generating more than 2% of GWP
  • List of all trading names  and brands used
Financial Information

Please provide:

  •  Copies of the last 2 years’ audited accounts
  • Latest management accounts sufficient to cover the last  12 months’ trading history
Insurer / Client Information

Please provide:

  • An anonymised client list on a policy basis with prior year gross written premium, income split between fee and commission and also split by policy type
  • Key areas of focus should include details of any large individual clients as reported  in the overall book
  • Analysis of income between private clients, SME (premiums below £10k) and commercial premiums (over £10k)
  • Total number of clients and total number of policies
  • A list of gross written premiums split by insurer and product lines
  • Breakdown of any add-on policies sold to consumers
  • Have you ever used any unrated insurers? If so, please provide GWP exc IPT and income  by insurer
  • Have any Financial Services  been traded historically throughout the business? If so, please provide further details
Location & IT

Please confirm:

  • Your main trading locations  and the key terms of your lease
  • Which IT system you are on and please provide a brief run-down  of infrastructure
  • What type of broadband connection do you have or do you have a dedicated lease line?
Staffing & Benefits

Please provide:

  •  A list of all staff in the business (both full-time and part-time)
  • Details of any self-employed staff
  • Full remuneration details including any bonus and benefits provided
Key Staff

Please provide:

  •  A CV or summary of any key staff/managers/account handlers/account executives
Compliance
  • Copy of your latest FCA  auditor report
  • Details of any breaches  reported to the FCA
  • Copy of latest client  money calculation
  • Copy of latest RMAR submission
  • Copy of your complaints log
The Future

It would be really helpful if you could elaborate on your thoughts about the future. Do all the vendors intend to stay with the business or retire? What are your current thoughts around succession?

Any other information

Please confirm:

  • Whether you are currently members of any network
  • Is there any other information that you feel would be pertinent  to our discussions?
  • Have you had any thoughts regarding deal structure in terms of length of earn-out, etc?

Interested in joining forces with Aston Lark?