Premier Choice Group (PCG) acquires employee benefits intermediary Advo Group Limited, adding scale and presence to PCG’s employee benefits proposition
Premier Choice Group (PCG), the PMI and employee benefits business of Brown & Brown (Europe), has completed a deal to buy the employee benefits intermediary Advo Group Limited (Advo).
The deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions by PCG, which completed six in the first half of 2024. PCG, with offices in London, Towcester, Bournemouth, Darwen and now, with the addition of Advo, Maidstone, work with the UK’s major insurance providers for health, risk and protection products.
Advo is an advisory firm based in Maidstone, Kent, specialising in employee benefits for domestic and international customers. The business recently restructured to carve out the HR and Payroll division, ‘Advo One’, which will remain within the Advo Holdings Limited businesses. Advo directors Larry Bulmer and Colin Boxall will remain with Advo One.
Under the terms of the acquisition, which has been completed following regulatory approval, PCG will add Advo’s employee benefits business to its existing proposition. Lucy Irvine, head of employee benefits at Advo, will continue in that role as the team expands its activity in the South East as part of the Brown & Brown team. Lucy Pearce, Advo Group’s Commercial Director, will join the PCG management team and be the commercial director for PCG, working alongside the recently appointed managing director Darren Perkins.
Commenting on the acquisition, Darren Perkins, managing director of PCG, said: “It’s great to be able to boost our employee benefits proposition by adding this dynamic team of professionals in the South East. They are a highly respected and experienced team with a strong reputation for service in employee benefits. The book of business they bring to PCG will also give us scale advantages and a high-quality customer list from which we expect to build out with additional services.”
Stephen Hough, director of PCG, also commented, “Since PCG became part of what is now Brown & Brown in July 2020, we have followed through on our strategic ambitions to lead concentration in what has historically been a disaggregated market. Thanks to a disciplined strategy that targets successful businesses, PCG has become a powerful force in the private medical insurance and employee benefits sector, with the additional support and firepower from Brown & Brown.”
Lucy Pearce said: “Becoming part of PCG/Brown & Brown gives us an excellent opportunity to establish a leading market presence in the employee benefits market. We are all very excited by this new opportunity, which comes on the back of our successful period of growth within Advo Group. The next stage of our journey promises to be exciting, and we look forward to being part of PCG.”