Howden-owned Aston Lark snaps up Irish insurance broker Pembroke

Merger and acquisition activity within the Irish insurance brokerage market is showing no signs of abating with Howden-owned Aston Lark on Wednesday announcing that it has acquired Dublin-based Pembroke Insurances.

The deal follows several years of unprecedented consolidation within the Irish brokerage market, which continues to attract private equity investment.

Aston Lark, which entered the Irish market in 2021 backed by Goldman Sachs, has now completed 13 acquisitions in less than 18 months, mostly recently with Athlone’s Gateway Insurance and Investments, which it bought in September for an undisclosed price.

Pembroke Insurances, founded in 2007 by Graham Weir and John McGuire – the duo behind broker Quote Devil, which was sold to private equity-backed Three Rock group earlier this year – had revenues of close to €1.5 million in 2021, according to its most recent set of accounts.

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Robert Kennedy, Aston Lark Ireland chief executive, said he was “delighted that Graham, [Pembroke director Paul Murphy] and the team have decided to join the Aston Lark and Howden family”.

Mr Weir said joining Aston lark “makes sense as the next logical step on our journey”.

Aston Lark was sold by Goldman to UK insurance giant Howden last year for a reported €1.3 billion.