Independent insurance intermediary Cullum Capital Ventures (CCV) announces today that it has completed its fifth acquisition of the year, with the purchase of Newcastle based broker, Bishop Skinner.

Established back in 1973, Bishop Skinner currently employs over 50 people and controls £12 million of premium. Current Managing Director, Don Jones, will continue to lead the firm and the existing senior management team will have an equity stake in the business going forward. The business will continue to operate under the Bishop Skinner brand and will remain in its current premises in Newcastle city centre.

CCV Chief Executive, Michael Rea, said: “Bishop Skinner is an excellent business with a real focus on delivering top-class service to its clients. I am delighted to welcome Bishop Skinner and its entire staff to the CCV Group. This acquisition gives CCV a real foothold in the North East, from which we plan to develop our presence further. With recent acquisitions, CCV now controls almost £250m of premium and, with a very healthy pipeline of deals currently in due diligence, I expect CCV to complete another six deals at least before the end of the year.”

Commenting on CCV’s continuing acquisition activity, Michael Rea went on to say:

“There was much speculation in the lead up to the budget on potential changes to capital gains tax, and clearly the Chancellor didn’t disappoint the pundits in pushing CGT up to 28% for higher rate tax payers. However, I don’t believe this will have a detrimental impact on M&A activity in our part of the industry, as relief for entrepreneurs was extended from £2 million to £5 million. This was good news for the owners of the many medium sized regional broking firms interested in full or partial sales of their business, with whom we talk, and I am confident that we’ll continue to see a healthy number of enquiries from brokers looking to manage their exit strategy.”