Arron Banks, chief executive and co-founder of Brightside - the 2011 West of England Business of the Year – has collected £2m from the sale of 8m shares at 25p each. But he still holds nearly 70m, equivalent to more than 15% of the company.
Mr Banks, along with commercial director John Gannon and finance director Paul Chase-Gardener, founded the business in 2005.
The Bristol-based insurance broking and financial services group now employs more than 600 people in its head office and a string of call centres. Last year its turnover climbed by 48.1 per cent to £66.2m.
It reported at the company AGM in June that trading so far in 2011 had been strong and ahead of initial expectations.
