Towergate Partnership, Britain's largest independently owned insurance intermediary, has offered 605p a share for Broker Network Holdings.

AIM-quoted Broker Network, which announced last month that it was in talks about a 'possible offer', has received a cash bid from acquisitive Towergate. The group controls some £1.1 billion of annual insurance premiums through 100 offices and earned £95 million on £238 million revenues last year.

Broker Network’s board, advised by Cenkos Securities, is recommending the offer and Towergate says it already has irrevocable acceptances for 55 per cent of the shares.

Unquoted Towergate, which lifted earnings 36.7 per cent to £67 million in the first half of this year, arranged a £580 million refinancing a year ago, of which £235 million was a facility to back future acquisitions. Peter Callum, Towergate's executive chairman, says Harrogate-based Broker Network, which doubled pre-tax profits last year to £6.5 million, makes an excellent fit.

He and Broker Network's chief executive Grant Ellis have known each other for years and, says Cullum, 'we both share the same passion for promoting the role and value of a broker'. Cullum says he is 'very excited' about the opportunities joining forces with Towergate will provide.

Of course, he also brings public company experience, which observers suggest might be of use to Towergate one day. Floated at 71p in 2004 and recommended by Growth Company Investor at 59p later that year and again at 116p in 2006, Broker Network shares are 67.5p up today at 590p, valuing the company at £91 million.

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