PCG Acquires Employee Benefits Intermediary Advo Group Limited—Deal Adds Scale and Presence to PCG’s Employee Benefits Proposition

July 3, 2024

Premier Choice Group (PCG), the PMI and employee benefits business of Brown & Brown (Europe) Ltd (Brown & Brown), 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.”

About Premier Choice Group

PCG is a specialist healthcare intermediary providing a full suite of health insurance, group risk and protection products, including private medical, dental, income replacement, business protection and term assurance, to corporate clients, SMEs and individuals.

About Brown & Brown (Europe) Limited

Brown & Brown (Europe) Limited operates retail broking, specialist MGA, network and Lloyd’s businesses, enabling the business to serve the growing insurance and risk management needs of its customers. Brown & Brown (Europe) is an operating unit of Brown & Brown, Inc.’s Retail segment. For more information or to find an office near you, please visit bbrown.com/eu/.

About Brown & Brown, Inc.

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE: BRO) is a leading insurance brokerage firm, delivering risk management solutions to individuals and businesses since 1939. With 16,000+ teammates in approximately 500 locations worldwide, we are committed to providing innovative strategies to help protect what our customers value most. For more information or to find an office near you, please visit bbinsurance.com.

This press release may contain certain statements relating to future results, which are forward-looking statements, including those associated with this acquisition. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent only Brown & Brown’s current belief regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of Brown & Brown’s control. It is possible that Brown & Brown’s actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Further information concerning Brown & Brown and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect Brown & Brown’s financial results and condition, as well as its other achievements, is contained in Brown & Brown’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such factors include those factors relevant to Brown & Brown’s consummation and integration of the announced acquisition, including any matters analyzed in the due diligence process and material adverse changes in the business and financial condition of the seller, the buyer, or both, and their respective customers. All forward-looking statements made herein are made only as of the date of this release, and Brown & Brown does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or correct any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which Brown & Brown hereafter becomes aware.