Insurance Brokers Network Australia (IBNA) members will move to Steadfast this year under a new arrangement that ends the 12-year-old AIMS joint venture with Austbrokers.

IBNA Chairman Gary Gribbin says details are yet to be finalised, but it is expected the transition will take place over the next few months and will offer long-term operational, financial and strategic benefits for members.

“Obviously, Steadfast has a strong position of leverage and enjoys good relationships with the insurers we deal with,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“The option of going to Steadfast spoke for itself.”

An initial consideration of $76 million is subject to adjustment if not all members join the Steadfast network, if Steadfast does not accept the application of any member, or if the figures used in the calculations change.

Steadfast MD and CEO Robert Kelly says IBNA members will remain independent, will gain shares in Steadfast and, in the longer-term, have the option to sell-down their stakes.

“There are a whole lot of services, not the least being our IT, that will be readily available to the IBNA brokers, and they will now have shares in the Steadfast Group and will receive dividends,” he said.

IBNA, which grew from state-based beginnings in the 1980s to become a national association and an unlisted public company in the 1990s, will cease to exist after the transition.

The network has more than 90 member companies, each of which is independently owned. They handle a combined annual gross written premium of about $1.4 billion.

AIMS was formed in 2007 as a venture between IBNA and the equity-based Austbrokers Australian insurance broking network.

Austbrokers Holdings was rebranded as AUB Group in 2015 to reflect the company’s increasing diversification under then-CEO Mark Searles. Mike Emmett took the reins in March this year.

“We believe the interests of our partners will be better served through increased control and direct collaborative engagement with insurance carriers, allowing us to negotiate greater flexibility and innovation in product design,” Mr Emmett said last week.

Ending the AIMS venture is expected to have a neutral impact on AUB’s fiscal 2020 results.

“The scale, market share and capability of AUB Group will allow the business to negotiate similar or better terms from existing and new carrier partners, with an opportunity to enhance run-rate earnings in the future,” the company says in a statement to the ASX.