Founders Ray Kite, Tom Wilson and Mark Warren are selling the business to Integro, a New York based group that makes regular acquisitions of niche brokers.

KWW is focussed on placing hull, protection and indemnity and other covers for shipowners with Greece and the Far East among its key international markets.

Integro is best known as a broker of medical malpractice and professional indemnity risks although it has a marine cargo business and a notable speciality in cargo rejection cover.

This insures the risk that food cargoes will fail to pass regulatory inspection at the port of discharge.

Integro’s London chairman,Toby Humphreys, highlighted the “extraordinary level of expertise in marine hull coverage” that KWW was bringing to the deal.

Integro’s New York based president, William Goldstein, said “KWW and other recent acquisitions underscored a commitment to being a leading international specialty brokerage firm.”

Kite was a former joint managing director of the London office of white shoe broker, Johnson & Higgins, breaking away at the time the company was acquired by Marsh.

After a 57 year career in marine insurance the 73 year old veteran is now retiring.

KWW chief executive, Tom Wilson, sees the acquisition by Integro as a part of a new wave of insurance market consolidation.

“The way the market is going there are going to be lots of mergers and acquisitions over the next two or three years both in broking and underwriting,” said Wilson.

“There is a slow and sluggish shipping market with shipowners not buying the level of cover they used to and insured values down. New capacity is flooding into a soft insurance market so everyone’s margins are very tight at the moment,” he added.

Potential buyers have been knocking at KWW’s door for some time but Wilson said his team had always valued their independence. However in the current market had decided it was best to “get ahead of the curve” and do a deal with Integro.

Integro had been looking to extend their footprint into marine and with KWW having a substantial wholesale capability can now place risks from their network into Lloyd's and the London market.

The value of the transaction has not been disclosed but the vendors are the three founders and a few long term shareholder employees.