Austagencies is amalgamating four specialist underwriting agency brands into its new Sura Hospitality agency, as it moves to increase capacity for clients in the sector.

Sura will include the Guardian hotels, pubs and restaurants agency, in which Austagencies acquired a 90% stake last year.

It also combines licensed sporting clubs specialist Celestial, leisure, entertainment and tourism insurer Dolphin and snowfields business Alpine.

Austagencies MD Craig Patterson says the broader hospitality agency will help the company achieve its aim of having a top three position in each of its segments.

“Our weakness was that we were sub-scale, but by aggregating a number of different businesses we give ourselves the ability to punch properly in that segment,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

Sura Hospitality, which is due to launch on May 1, will have a wider geographic spread and about three times the capacity of the original businesses.

The Sura name will also be extended to other Austagencies sectors under a move to streamline brands across the company’s business areas.

Austagencies’ other products include cover for motor dealers, buses, construction, equipment breakdown, film and television production, plant and equipment, contingency risks, transport and logistics, and strata.