Beech Tree Private Equity ("BTPE") today announces its investment in Avid Insurance Services ("Avid"), a specialist insurance intermediary and managing general agent. The investment will be used to accelerate the growth of Avid both organically and through investment in new underwriting teams.

With operations in Leeds and London, Avid possesses deep underwriting and sector expertise, particularly in the travel and social housing sectors, to expertly price and manage risks to deliver profitable business to its insurers. The business was founded in 2006 and has experienced considerable growth over the last few years through building strong relationships with capacity providers and distributers leading to the expansion of its product lines. The business prides itself on its data driven approach with its systems and processes enabling best-in-class data analysis capabilities.

Stephen Gibson, Managing Director of Avid comments: "We're delighted to partner with Beech Tree and look forward to utilising their knowledge and experience of scaling businesses as we embark on our growth plan together. Talking to Beech Tree was like talking to a trade player given their sector focus. We have built a strong foundation based on our key principle of delivering value to our partners through a disciplined and data-driven underwriting approach. With long-term fully delegated binder agreements in place, we have the capacity and appetite to support new product lines and to acquire complimentary underwriting teams as we continue to expand our business alongside Beech Tree".

Andy Marsh, Managing Partner of BTPE comments: "We are excited to be working with Stephen and the team at Avid. After getting to know a large number of companies in the market, we were able to quickly identify Avid as a stand-out performer. The business is well diversified after developing a number of long-term relationships with capacity providers and distributers and has a demonstrable track record for writing profitable business. The Management team have done a fantastic job in building the business to date and we are looking forward to supporting their plans for the future."

BTPE's investment in Avid represents its 7th platform investment. Andy Marsh and Ben Cartwright from BTPE will join the company board.

Funders of the transaction:Beech Tree Private Equity (Andy Marsh, Ben Cartwright, Luke Burns)

Advisers to the transaction:Advisers to Beech Tree and Newco:Financial Due Diligence – Dow Schofield Watts (Catriona Lang, Ed Brentnall, Rob Parker)Legal – DLA Piper (James Kerrigan, Christopher Wilson, Alexandra Holden)Tax – PwC (Nick Hatton, Catherine Kay, Callum Lee)Corporate Finance – KPMG (Mark Flenner, David Stokoe, Andrew Francis)

Advisers to the Company:Corporate Finance – RSM (Natalie Ord, Russell Jones)Legal – Trowers and Hamlins (Alison Chivers, Moad Giebaly, Adrian Jones)Tax – RSM (Helen Relf)