Honan boosts NZ presence with latest acquisition

Honan Insurance Group has acquired Certus Insurance Brokers (CIBNZ) as part of ambitions to grow its presence in the New Zealand market.

Melbourne-headquartered Honan has acquired six businesses since July last year, leading to a compound annual growth rate of 35% over the past three years, and set up its first New Zealand office in Auckland in 2010.

Established in 2001, CIBNZ has a team of 15 risk advisers, brokers and general insurance specialists operating across two offices in central and regional Auckland.

“The acquisition of CIBNZ now gives us the regional expertise backed by the Honan firepower to rapidly expand our share of the Antipodean market,” Honan CEO Andrew Fluitsma said.

“It has been an intense 12 months of M&A activity, but I’m proud to say we’ve become damn good at acquiring businesses.

“From the legal, financial and compliance side, to the operations and cultural integration, our team have the capabilities to seamlessly bring businesses into the Honan Group and immediately deliver value.

“The result has seen our business deepen its sector expertise and expand our reach, all while maintaining our challenger brand ethos and premium client experience when compared to the industry behemoths.”

CIBNZ GM Mark Gustafson says the firms’ values and growth aspirations are aligned.

“After building Certus Insurance Brokers into a successful independent brokerage specialising in SME and domestic insurance, now is the right time to become part of a larger and progressive group,” he said.

“In joining with Honan it will allow us to tap into a broad range of expertise that will significantly strengthen our customer proposition and business operations.”

CIBNZ will continue to operate under the Certus Insurance Brokers name and will continue to be a member of the AUB Group-owned NZbrokers network.

“We believe the Honan expertise and resources will complement CIBNZ’s existing strengths and it is great for the new team to recognise the value that being part of New Zealand’s largest broker network brings to them,” NZbrokers CEO Jo Mason said.