In a valuable transaction, Group Direct, a specialist in van insurance, has become part of Brightside, along with all its affiliated names.

The decision was made at an important meeting of Brightside shareholders held last Friday. During the general meeting, all last details of the acquisition were finalised and all shareholders agreed to the move.

All resolutions in relation to the acquisition were passed prior to an announcement from the company, which confirmed that the acquisition was to go ahead.

Under the acquisition, Group Direct, its associated companies and Injury QED are all now part of the Brightside name, helped along by a strategic investment of £5.7 million by Norwich Union and £4.9 million from Stena Investments.

Stena Investments is one of the largest investment companies in Sweden and the money which it has supplied along with Norwich Union have made it possible for the Brightside Group to strengthen its balance sheet and look to expansion, growth and further investments and acquisitions.

Under the move, Dr Chris Fay will become the new non-executive chairman at Brightside. Previously, Dr Chris Fay was the chairman and chief executive at Shell UK, before moving onto his current role as non executive chairman of Expro International and Stena International.

An astute businessman involved in many enterprises, Dr Chris Fay also sits on the board of non executives at leading company Anglo America, where he is the non executive director.

Paul Chase Gardener is the current chairman of Group Direct, specialised van insurance broker, and he will be expecting to become the new group chief executive at Brightside following the move.

Group Direct is a relatively young company, having been set up in 2001 by Arron Banks and John Gannon as a specialist van insurer.

Despite the short eight year lifespan of the company, Group Direct has been a very successful van insurance broker and over the years has expanded to cover a range of products.

They now provide van insurance, fleet insurance, insurance within the motor trade, taxi insurance, minibus insurance, cover for business cars, commercial combined insurance as well as a number of property and personal lines.

The success of Group Direct is evident through the expensive and high profile acquisition taking place involving some of the really big names in insurance such as Norwich Union. Current revenues at Group Direct reach £23.3 million.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2007 reached £4.4 million for the successful van insurance company. Founder of Group Direct, Mr Arron Banks, welcomed the acquisition and saw it as reward for his years of hard work.

He felt that the move would give the company opportunity to expand in ways which would never have been possible without the investment from larger groups.

Speaking on the matter he had this to say: “This marks the beginning of an exciting new phase in Group Direct’s and Brightside’s development, and our prospects going forward are far and wide."