Howden, the global insurance group, has announced that it has acquired Coversure Limited (trading as “Surety Bonds”), strengthening its Surety offering to clients in the Irish insurance market as it continues to make significant investments to accelerate its growth journey in Ireland.

Established in 2012 by Colm McGrath and Jane Brady, Surety Bonds is the only specialist Surety broker in Ireland, providing several types of bonds and guarantees, but predominantly performance obligation bonds required for construction contracts. Surety Bonds is an owner-managed business with its head office in Carrick on Shannon Co. Leitrim. The Surety Bonds team will work closely with Howden Capital, Advisory and Placement’s Surety division, led by James Souter.

Robert Kennedy, CEO, Howden Ireland, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Colm and his team to Howden. Surety Bonds provides a very specialised service to the Construction sector and this partnership allows us to expand our service offering for our clients. This is extremely exciting as the combined scale of Howden, our expertise and our local office network will drive new business opportunities with both insurers and new construction clients. We are looking forward to working with James Souter and the wider Surety team to bring new solutions to the Irish market.”

Colm McGrath Founder and Managing Director, Surety Bonds added: “Howden are the perfect strategic fit and more importantly a natural fit culturally for our business and our clients. This is a significant milestone for us today. Though we will continue to trade as Surety Bonds, becoming part of Howden allows us to better serve our clients with additional offerings bringing exciting growth opportunities. James Souter, Head of Surety, Howden Capital, Advisory and Placement, said: “Surety Bonds is a welcome addition to our portfolio. “Together, we have a greater combined scale which will enable us to service demand and improve our client offering in new areas. We’re excited to have Colm and his team join Howden, leveraging our collective power to provide outstanding solutions for our clients.”

Howden is a leading global insurance intermediary group with employee ownership at its heart. Founded in 1994, it operates in 50 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, the USA, Australia and New Zealand, employing 16,000 people and handling $38bn of premium on behalf of clients.

For more information, please visit www.howdengroupholdings.com

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Michael McDonnell Managing  Editor of Irish Construction Industry Magazine & Plan Magazine

Email: michael@irishconstruction.com      WWW.MCDMEDIA.IE  WWW.IRISHCONSTRUCTION.COM