Seventeen Group has acquired Senate Insurance Brokers, a Gibraltar-based insurance brokerage specialising in corporate insurance, property, professional indemnity and international corporate healthcare. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded in 2019 by chief executive officer Kevin Hook and chief business officer Nicholas Pecino, Senate Insurance Brokers has established itself as an adviser within the Gibraltar market and currently manages approximately £3.8 million in gross written premium.
The deal marks a shift in geography for Seventeen Group. Founded in 1982 and headquartered in London, the group operates 25 offices across the UK, the DACH region and the Isle of Man, managing around £400 million in premiums through subsidiaries including James Hallam, its UK retail broking arm, Touchstone, its managing general agency, and London Re, a joint venture with Germany's MRH Trowe.
Senate's addition gives the group its first foothold in Gibraltar. From there, Seventeen Group also gains a base to serve clients across the open land frontier in southern Spain - not through any formal cross-border licence, since Gibraltar-domiciled firms lost automatic EU passporting rights after Brexit, but through the same practical route several Gibraltar-based insurance managers and brokers already use: serving a client base of British expatriates and cross-border residents along the Costa del Sol, and in some cases maintaining a physical presence in the Spanish border town of La Línea, a short distance from Gibraltar's own offices, to access EU-regulated business directly.
The transaction is expected to drive collaboration across Seventeen Group's specialist divisions, including marine, property, high net worth and Touchstone MGA. Introducing the group's expertise, product capabilities and technical knowledge into the Gibraltar market is intended to create opportunities for cross-selling, upselling and accelerated growth.
Gibraltar's insurance sector is unusually tied to the UK's. Gibraltar domiciled insurers write around 30% of the UK motor insurance market, a legacy of the territory's long-standing role as a base for insurers passporting into the UK.
Since Brexit removed the EU passporting regime, that access has continued to run through the Gibraltar Authorisation Regime, a bespoke framework intended to give Gibraltar based firms mutual market access with the UK once fully implemented, with transitional passporting arrangements recently extended to December 31, 2026.
The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission has continued to align its rulebook closely with the FCA's, including its own version of Consumer Duty and operational resilience requirements, reinforcing Gibraltar's position as a jurisdiction where UK-facing brokers and insurers operate under a broadly familiar regulatory framework.
Senate follows a series of acquisitions Seventeen Group has made into James Hallam so far in 2026, including Citrus Healthcare and Smith England Insurance Brokers in March, which together added £12 million in gross written premium, and 1st Choice Insurance in April, which added a further £13 million.
That renewed pace follows a quieter 2025, in which the group completed only one acquisition after being among the most active UK broker consolidators in 2024, when 11 deals helped drive turnover up 16.4% to £52.76 million.
That acquisition activity has run alongside a change in the group's own ownership structure: in March 2025, private equity firm IK Partners agreed to acquire a minority stake in the group from its founding shareholders and management team, a deal intended to support further growth, innovation and technology investment - capital that has plausibly helped fund the renewed 2026 deal pace following 2025's quieter year.
Oliver Thorne, chief executive of Seventeen Group, welcomed the new addition to the business. "I am delighted to welcome Kevin, Nick and the team to the Group," Thorne said. "Their dynamic and entrepreneurial approach coupled with our Group's expertise creates an exciting platform to build the leading broker for clients in Gibraltar and southern Spain."
Nicholas Pecino and Kevin Hook of Senate Insurance Brokers said the move gave the business access to wider resources while preserving its client focused approach. "Joining the 17 Group and James Hallam marks an exciting new chapter for Senate Insurance Brokers," they said. "It's a partnership built on shared values, exceptional people and a commitment to putting clients first. By combining Senate's expertise with the wider capabilities of the Group, including specialist knowledge, enhanced resources and direct access to the Lloyd's of London market, we are even better positioned to support our clients while staying true to the personal approach that defines our business. We are delighted to become part of the 17 Group and James Hallam."
The deal lands amid a broker consolidation market that has cooled from its recent peak but remains dominated by private equity backed buyers.
MarshBerry recorded 99 announced UK insurance distribution transactions in 2025, the first year since 2017 to fall short of 100 deals, with private equity backed acquirers continuing to account for the largest share of activity even as several of the sector's most prolific buyers, including Seventeen Group itself, were notably quieter over the period.
Against that backdrop, and given Gibraltar's close regulatory and commercial ties to the UK motor and specialty markets, Seventeen Group's move suggests some UK consolidators are now looking to adjacent, closely aligned jurisdictions for growth rather than competing purely on price for the next domestic regional tuck-in.
