Howden, a subsidiary of Hyperion Insurance Group, has signed an agreement to acquire Punter Southall Health and Protection, a UK-based employee benefits, health and protection consultancy.
Image: Hyperion to acquire UK-based employee benefits consultancy. Photo: Courtesy of rawpixel/Unsplash.
As part of the deal Howden will acquire Punter and its trading subsidiaries including Punter Southall Health and Protection, Red Arc Assured and Risk Policy Administration.
The transaction which is subject to regulatory approval, will strengthen Howden’s existing UK business and enhance its international employee benefits offering, which aims to provide innovative solutions and advice to employers.
Punter Southall Health and Protection CEO Paul Johnston said: “Joining the Howden family marks an exciting chapter for us and provides greater opportunities for our staff. It also represents a significant step in our desire to develop market-leading digital solutions for our clients. Working with Hyperion X, we will be able to build technology to transform the world of employee benefits for the better.’’
Established in 2010, Punter has grown significantly into a better health and protection and wellbeing advisers in the country. It has over 160 employees working across three UK sites in Redhill, Surrey, central London and Baildon, Yorkshire.
The company works with small, medium and large companies, business partners and consumers. It claims to have more than 750 corporate clients, 2,500 SMEs and over 5,000 consumer customers.
Hyperion CEO David Howden said: “Howden and Punter Southall Health and Protection’s specialities are highly complementary with entrepreneurial cultures. We both believe in the importance of putting our employees first, which enables us to best serve our clients, and in the importance of technology and data, which underpins our strategies.”
After the deal is completed, Paul Johnston will join the Howden UK executive committee as Howden UK chief information officer and will report to Howden UK CEO Chris Evans.
In October, Hyperion announced that it will launch Hyperion X, the fourth business from the company. Hyperion X is expected to develop key areas of data, analytics and digital platform delivery. The new business will work alongside its existing broking businesses Howden Broking Group and RKH Specialty (RKH) and MGA DUAL.
The new business will also manage Hyperion’s third-party insurtech investments, along with the responsibility of incubating its own start-up ventures.