Premier Choice Continues Expansion with Acquisition of Advo Group

Premier Choice Group (PCG) has bought intermediary Advo Group, which it says will expand the scale of its employee benefits offering. This is the sixth acquisition made by PCG in the first half of this year.

Advo specializes in employee benefits for domestic and international clients. Under the terms of the acquisition, PCG will add Advo’s employee benefits business to its existing offering.

Lucy Irvine, head of employee benefits at Advo, will continue in this role as the team expands its business in the South East as part of the Brown & Brown team. Lucy Pearce, Advo Group Commercial Director, will join the PCG management team and become PCG Commercial Director, working alongside recently appointed Managing Director Darren Perkins.

Advo recently restructured its HR and Payroll division, ‘Advo One’, which will remain as a business of Advo Holdings Limited. Advo Directors Larry Bulmer and Colin Boxall will remain with Advo One.

PCG, the employee benefits business of Brown & Brown, currently has offices in London, Towcester, Bournemouth, Darwen and now Advo in Maidstone, Kent.

Perkins said: “It’s great to be able to enhance our employee benefits offering. They are a highly regarded and experienced team with a strong reputation for employee benefits services. The book of business they bring to PCG will also provide us with economies of scale and a high-quality client list from which we expect to build additional services.”

Stephen Hough, a director at PCG, added: “Since July 2020, when PCG became part of what is now Brown & Brown, we have pursued our strategic ambition to lead the focus on what has historically been a fragmented market. With a disciplined strategy focused on successful businesses, PCG has become a formidable force in the private health and employee benefits sector.”

Lucy Pearce said: “Joining PCG/Brown & Brown provides us with a great opportunity to establish a leading market presence in the employee benefits market. We are all very excited about this new opportunity, which comes after a period of successful growth at Advo Group.”