SOUTHAMPTON-BASED Portmore Insurance Brokers Ltd has announced a major rebrand following its acquisition last October by Gallagher, one of the UK’s largest insurers.

From this week, the Portmore branch in Southampton will transition to the Gallagher brand which also has south coast offices in Chichester and Bournemouth with approximately 50 and 200 staff respectively.

Portmore was established in 2006 as a mid-market focused commercial insurance broker offering tailored insurance programmes for both private and public sector businesses.

Since then, its founders and joint managing directors — Graham Jacobs and Paul Chapman — have expanded the business significantly, experiencing double digit growth year-on-year.

It has a staff of 60 based at Yeoman Park in Redbridge.

Mr Jacobs said: “Becoming part of a locally-focused but globally-backed insurance broker and risk management services firm is enabling us to take our business to the next level with the focus - as ever - on developing and delivering an even wider range of specialised and bespoke solutions for our clients.

“There were real synergies between Portmore and Gallagher, and those complementary specialisms brought us together. Now, as part of the wider Gallagher family, we’ll benefit from a great blend of expertise, scale and geographic spread, while at the same time sharing our values of service excellence, professional integrity and teamwork. We’re excited for what the future holds.”

For customers of the former Portmore branch, however, it will very much be business as usual.

Patrick O’Connell, regional managing director, for Gallagher London & South, said: For our combined customers in Southampton, everything will remain the same. They’ll be dealing with the same great people and receiving the same great levels of customer service they’ve always experienced.

“That said, they will now be able to benefit from broader expertise, a significantly widened offering and national as well as global resources, creating more choice and even better value.”