PSC Insurance Group announced today it has acquired another London brokerage for £8.51 million ($15.5 million), further expanding its reach in the UK market.

The acquisition of Absolute Insurance Brokers follows a recent move by the Melbourne-based listed group to buy up the remaining 30% share in Turner Financial Services to take full ownership of the UK business. PSC bought a 70% stake in the Leicester-based retail brokerage in 2018 for £3.96 million ($7.2 million), with an option to purchase the other 30% at a later date.

PSC says the purchase of Croydon-based Absolute, which specialises in commercial insurance, reflects the importance of the UK market to its growth strategy.

Its addition will give PSC an immediate increase in scale and boost its ability to improve margins as well as offer opportunities for its Carroll wholesale broking operations.

“The UK market provides us with terrific growth opportunities,” PSC MD Tony Robinson told insuranceNEWS.com.au today. “We have a great group of people working with us in the UK, and leveraging that skillset and ability via acquisitions is a tremendous way to drive shareholder value.”

Mr Robinson says the UK “is an incredibly important global insurance market, underwriting risks from around the globe as well as being a large domestic business insurance market”.

“We believe the combination of those two makes it a fantastic place to trade as an insurance broking and intermediary business,” he said.

PSC says the acquisition of Absolute is expected to add initial annualised incremental pre-tax earnings of £1 million ($1.83 million) to the group.

It will pay 75% of the total consideration upon completion of the deal, made up of £5.11 million ($9.3 million) in cash and the balance through PSC shares.

The outstanding balance will be payable in cash on the first and second anniversaries of the completion date of the acquisition.