Life assurance specialist, Partnership, has been ranked number one in the Sunday Times Deloitte Buyout Track 100, a league table which identifies Britain's 100 private-equity-backed mid-market companies with the fastest-growing profits, and who in turn 'drive growth in the downturn'.
This follows Partnership's recent success in October 2011, when it was selected as No. 1 in the Sunday Times HSBC Top Track 250 league table which identifies the fastest growing mid-ranking private businesses in the UK, highlighting firms who are leading the economic recovery.
Now in its 6th year, the annual Buyout Track 100 league table ranks companies by growth in profits* over the last two years of available accounts.
Partnership out performed well known brands Agent Provocateur (No 8); fashion retailer Jack Wills (No.43), logistics operator Unipart Group (No.59) and sandwich shop operator Pret a Manger (No.87).
Commenting on Partnership, Buyout Track 100 said; "Life Assurance specialist Partnership, owned by Cinven, takes the top spot. Its profits grew an average of 346% a year from £1.9m in 2008 to £36.9m in 2010, the highest growth figure seen on any Buyout Track 100 table."
Steve Groves, CEO at Partnership said; "At the heart of the company is a fairly simple concept; people with serious medical conditions that shorten their life expectancy should receive higher annuity payments. The friendly society that became Partnership was set up in 1995 on the strength of this idea, which at the time was far from being standard industry practice."
"Over the last 16 years Partnership has developed a unique proprietary data base which enables it to make more accurate estimates about life expectancy based on health and lifestyle. This can provide 20% to 40% more income than alternatives that do not take the purchaser's health into account.
"Partnership's success is based on its ability to provide superior rates to its customers and its willingness to innovate and find solutions which provide consumer benefits. Partnership was the first company to introduce the 'enhanced annuity' into the UK. This is a legacy we are extremely proud of and seek to build upon."