Bridges Ventures today announces the sale of Insurance Dialogue Ltd (IDL) to Equity Insurance Group, an insurance underwriter. IDL is an insurance broker which offers tailored insurance products to the over-50s market.

Bridges Ventures first invested in IDL in February 2005. At the time, it was a very early stage company, led by David Holden, a proven entrepreneur, who had built and managed similar businesses for both Saga and RIAS.

Over the four year term of their investment, Bridges Ventures has supported the company through a variety of developments including building a new call centre in Bournemouth which created a large number of jobs in the area. The range of products on offer has also expanded considerably, while the company now has a large and growing base of loyal customers.

Equity Insurance Group have to date been very supportive of IDL and Bridges Ventures believes that IDL is well placed to build on their strong foundations to grow the business further.

Philip Newborough of Bridges Ventures said:

“David Holden, the founder and CEO of IDL, has developed this business from a concept to a large and growing specialist insurance broker with a loyal customer base. We would like to wish him and the team the very best of luck as they move into an exciting new phase of growth with support from Equity Insurance Group.”

David Holden of IDL commented:

“Bridges Ventures has supported us through our early growth and development stage. We are grateful for their assistance and now look forward to working closely with Equity Insurance.”

Douglas Morgan of Equity Insurance Group said:

“We have known David of IDL for several years and are delighted to have the opportunity to support and assist in the company’s future growth.

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HB Communications – 020 7637 2780 Tom Hampson-Bellon    /   Florence Drake  t.hampson-bellon@hbcomms.com      f.drake@hbcomms.com

Bridges Ventures

Bridges Ventures is an investment company whose commercial expertise is used to deliver both financial returns and social and environmental benefits.  Bridges Ventures’ key backers include the co-founder and former chairman of Apax Partners, Sir Ronald Cohen, 3i and Doughty Hanson.

Three funds have been raised to date: Venture Funds I & II and the Bridges Social Entrepreneurs Fund.

Venture Fund I totaled £40m while Venture Fund II totaled £75m, beating its original target of £50m by 50%, and was closed in 2007. Investors in the second fund include HSBC, Co-operative Financial Services, Barclays Business Banking, Lloyds TSB, and Citigroup, individuals including Tom Singh of 3i, Dr Mike Lynch of Autonomy Corporation, Harvey McGrath of Man Group and Lloyd Dorfman of Travelex, as well as pension funds and endowments including the Universities Superannuation Scheme, the West Midlands Pension Fund and All Souls College.

The Venture Funds invest in businesses based in regeneration areas and in sustainable business sectors such as the environment, education and healthcare.  Bridges Ventures typically invests up to £10m at a time in ambitious, entrepreneurial businesses including early stage, development capital and management buy-outs. So far, £52m has been invested in 30 companies, many of whose employees have come out of long-term unemployment. To date there have been four successful exits: Harlands in Hull, SimplySwitch in South London, HS Atec in Yorkshire and EB2 in South London.

Launched in November 2008, the Social Entrepreneurs Fund is an innovative financing solution that is tailored to the needs of ambitious social enterprises. Over £4 million has been raised by nine Founder Partners who have contributed donations to the Bridges Charitable Trust to create an Evergreen Fund. They include NESTA, Sir Ronald Cohen, Nigel Doughty, Harvey McGrath, Apax Foundation, The Generation Foundation, Lehman Foundation, Deutsche Bank and the Bridges Ventures team who have allocated funds from their profit share.

The fund will invest in the form of equity-like capital, which shares in the risks but also the returns of social enterprises.  The investment will be coupled with hands-on advice and support to help the social enterprises realise their potential.

For more information please go to www.bridgesventures.com

Insurance Dialogue Ltd (IDL)

Insure4Retirement (I4R) is a trading name of IDL.  I4R is an independent intermediary dedicated to marketing insurance and financial services using the most sophisticated direct marketing and tele-selling techniques available.

I4R is headed up by David Holden who has 32 years experience in selling a wide range of insurance, life assurance and investment products working with organisations and companies to develop their own branded services. David developed Saga Services from about £200k revenue to £3.5m profit in just three years and went on to set up and establish Insurance Advisory Services and its retirement brand RIAS taking the company to over £4m profit p.a. and 600,000 policyholders by January 2003. David pioneered the use of outbound tele-selling and the use of predictive diallers in the personal insurance industry.

I4R is an FSA regulated and authorised insurance provider that provides the following services:-

– Sales and administration of personal lines insurance products with full white label capability and web enabled insurance systems – Analysis of markets and databases to identify most appropriate financial products to market and product/market segmentation – Negotiation and development of products – Full marketing and tele-sales services

Insure4Retirement specialises in providing low cost home insurance to people aged over 50. The policy is unique and is not offered by any other insurance provider. There are a wide range of additional product offerings that can be added to the standard home insurance offering, allowing the customer to tailor the product to their needs.  Insure4Retirement only uses UK call centres for dealing with sales, policy administration and claims.

All of the insurance companies Insure4Retirement work with are members of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), or certain underwriters at Lloyds.  Insure4Retirement are regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) firm registration number 307941.