HELPHIRE Group has announced plans to acquire the Albany Group in a £46 million deal, which includes Albany’s 1,600-strong fleet.

Helphire, which provides rental cars on credit to innocent victims of accidents, will also take control of more than 1.5 million legal expenses insurance (LEI) policyholders following the acquisition.

Michael Symons, chairman of the Helphire Group, said: ‘We view the acquisition of the Albany Group as an exciting event which we believe will generate significant benefits for shareholders and customers in the medium term.

‘We intend to provide an update on the integration process and realisable synergies at the time of our interim results in the week commencing December 6.’