AEI Insurance Broking Group has celebrated its 40th year in business after its founding as a small Sydney firm in 1983.

“AEI has grown to have offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, now with in excess of 100 employees,” MD Tim Wedlock says in a post on LinkedIn.

“We have many wonderful clients who have been with us for the majority of this time so a huge thank you for all your support and referral as well as the support from our insurance underwriting partners.”

Mr Wedlock’s uncle AEI Group Chairman Stephen Bennett moved from underwriting to broking when he founded Australian European Insurance Brokers as a joint MD.

Mr Wedlock joined the firm a few years later as an account executive supporting the senior brokers and became MD in 2007 as the business continued to evolve and grow.

In the early 2000’s Australian European Brokers was sold to Austbrokers Holdings as part of an ASX listing and in the mid 2000s an opportunity arose for Mr Wedlock and Michael Donaldson, in partnership with Austbrokers Holdings, to segment a large transport and logistics portfolio and to form Austbrokers AEI Transport.

The firm then developed its non-transport business, acquiring two commercial portfolios from Alex and Russell Chegwyn respectively, establishing Austbrokers AEI.

AEI Insurance Broking Group now places in excess of $200 million of general insurance premium into the Australian market each year and has clients ranging from sole trader and small professional firms, to manufacturers and major transport/logistics companies.