Nine months after loss adjusting firms McLarens Young Australia and Freemans Australia entered merger discussions, the two businesses have joined forces.

From tomorrow the new entity will be known as MYI Freemans, with its headquarters in Sydney. It will have more than 500 staff in more than 80 offices across Australia.

The new Chairman is experienced company director Graham Lenzner. Freemans CEO Martin Hartcher will be CEO of the merged company and McLarens Young MD Ian Simpson will become Innovation Director.

Mr Simpson, who will continue to be based in Adelaide, says the merger has been well received by the market and by staff, and that it will look at new opportunities outside the traditional areas of loss adjusting.

“Our industry has failed to innovate for too long, so we’re bringing that well into the realms of the future now,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“The world doesn’t need another IT system. We want to be competitive in the market and nobody wants to pay more than they have to, so efficiency is certainly a key driver here.”

Mr Simpson says both companies are very excited about the merger, and the “spirit of co-operation and the fellowship” between the two organisations over the past few months has been “just outstanding”.

The management team will comprise General Manager Business Relationships Martyn Wicht, Operations Manager Jim Jobson, CFO Nick Johnson, CIO Sye Declerck, Head of Expertise Andrew Thomas, and Regional Directors Victoria/Tasmania/SA/WA/NT Lee Cooper, Queensland Ian Lavin, and NSW Tony Button.

The businesses will continue to trade under the two brands until its systems and processes are integrated into a single service for clients.