The Broker Investment Group (TBIG) has acquired a 75% stake in U Drive, a specialist personal lines broker with £38 million in gross written premium – the group's largest transaction to date and one that alone surpasses the combined GWP of all seven acquisitions it completed in 2025.
U Drive, the trading name of U Drive Cover Limited and headquartered in Sunbury-on-Thames, focuses on complex private car risks including drivers with limited no claims history, modified vehicles, and high-value performance cars.
Its 74 staff work with an insurer panel that includes Aviva, AXA, ERS, Markerstudy, and Zenith. The brand and management team will remain in place following the deal.
TBIG's 2025 deal run – which included KDH Insurance Brokers in March, KSL Thomas & Co in August, and Black Lion Broking Services in December – collectively added well under £20 million in GWP to the group. U Drive's book alone exceeds that total, marking a clear shift in deal size as TBIG enters its next phase.
Group CEO Chris Haggart (pictured above), who joined from Hedron Network where he oversaw a combined broker premium in excess of £1 billion, said the group intends "to double the size of The Broker Investment Group within the next three years," calling U Drive "a sizeable start."
The group had previously targeted £250 million in GWP by end-2024, making Haggart's ambition a continuation of established direction rather than a reset.
TBIG will extend U Drive into home, travel, and commercial personal lines through its centralised marketing and distribution model – an infrastructure deputy chairman Dave Clapp has described as built specifically to deliver new business opportunities across its broker investments.
Clapp said the deal "broadens our personal lines expertise and further diversifies the Group's portfolio," adding that the group is "partnering with an ambitious management team whose culture and growth mindset align closely with ours."
That structure – acquiring majority stakes while preserving brands and retaining management – is what MarshBerry has described as representative of the private equity-influenced consolidation strategies reshaping UK insurance distribution, with TBIG cited as a defining example.
Steve McPherson, managing director of U Drive, said it was clear from early discussions that both sides "share a common vision for growth," and that TBIG "provides the scale and infrastructure" to support the business's plans.
He added that the partnership would allow U Drive to continue "growing without compromising on service, expertise or culture."
