Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Paul Whittaker, MD of CMIB, says: “Behind this new name is a much wider range of benefits for clients. Towergate is a major force in the UK insurance market and has more insurance and risk management products than any other broker. It is currently rated in the top 10 brokers in the UK.

“With this acquisition, Towergate will have more than 80 branches in the UK backed by dedicated teams of underwriters who specialise in each category of insurance.”

The chairman of Towergate, Peter Cullum, has built the business over a period of nine years and is the current Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Towergate is also recognised as a Sunday Times Profit Track 100 company.

Created in 2005 through the merger of Towergate Underwriting, and Folgate Partnership, Towergate Part-nership now operates through two distinct divisions: underwriting and broking.

CMIB is based in the former Bury St Edmunds’ head office of The Beckett Group whose general insurance business, headed by Paul Whittaker, was acquired by CMIB three years ago.