Austbrokers subsidiary Austagencies has entered into an exclusive heads of agreement to acquire underwriting agencies operated by member company Insurance Advisernet (IAA).

The acquisition will see Austagencies take 100% of Mint Property and Casualty, Mint Transport (Civil Contractors), Mint Taxis and 50% of Mint Plus, a professional indemnity specialist with Lloyd’s security. 

The deal is expected to be completed by March 31, and is expected to raise Austagencies’ annual gross written premium to more than $280 million.

Austbrokers CEO Mark Searles says the existing Mint range of products will not change. “At this point Austagencies are still working through the acquisition process.”

Mint Underwriting was established 12 months ago to consolidate six IAA underwriting businesses, with founder and Chairman Ian Carr telling insuranceNEWS.com.au the move would “maximise the agencies’ buying power and efficiencies and ensure they offer the very best value”.

Mr Carr told insuranceNEWS.com.au today the Austagencies deal will remove any conflicts of interest issues that may have arisen with his company’s large force of authorised representatives, while it will also add to Austagencies’ volume and scale.

“We believe significant volume and scale is required to provide a sustainable advantage in the underwriting agency marketplace in the future,” he said.

IAA will retain its Lloyd's broker operation, IAUK, “as Lloyd's continues to complement our distribution and cater for placements that are not available or suited in the local marketplace”.