A SOUTHAMPTON Insurance firm has been bought by a global rival.

Gallagher has announced the acquisition of Southampton-based Portmore Insurance Brokers Ltd in a deal that will strengthen its presence in the city to a team of more than 60 insurance professionals.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Gallagher – which has an existing operation in Hedge End, as well as offices in Chichester and Bournemouth along the South Coast, with approximately 50 and 200 colleagues in each location respectively — has a UK-wide branch network, which serves customers from more than 50 locations.

Portmore was established in 2006 as a mid-market focused commercial insurance broker offering tailored insurance programmes for a wide range of industry sectors, encompassing both private and public sector businesses.

Since then, its founders and joint managing directors — Graham Jacobs and Paul Chapman — have expanded the business significantly and it now employs 40 staff at its office in Yeoman Park, Redbridge..

Patrick O’Connell, regional managing director for Gallagher, said: “With our many areas of complementary specialisms, Portmore and Gallagher are an excellent fit. By bringing Portmore into our branch network we can offer clients in Southampton and the surrounding areas a greater breadth and depth of risk management solutions as the pre-eminent commercial insurance broker on the South Coast.”

Graham Jacobs added: “As a partner, Gallagher offers a great blend of complementary expertise, scale and geographic spread, while at the same time sharing our client-focused values of service excellence, professional integrity and teamwork. We’re excited for what the future holds.”

A spokesman for Gallagher said that both Southampton