Employees of Kent insurer Towergate are to get payouts of up to £1,000, after shares in the company were sold off.

Maidstone-based Towergate, which also has offices in Sevenoaks and Whitstable has sold £100 million of shares to US hedge fund Och-Ziff.

The deal was brokered in ten days and rushed through ahead of changes to capital gains tax, which came in on April 6.

The company employs 250 in Kent. It is understood qualifying staff will receive between £500 and £1,000.

A statement by the company confirmed a total of £100 million would go to management shareholders and also to staff, "rewarding (staff) for the value that has been created and incentivising them for further growth."

Executive chairman Peter Cullum said: "We are very happy to see Och-Ziff and its co-investors increase their investments in Towergate.

"Over the last ten years we have demonstrated our proven track record of innovation, progression and dynamism, which is a tribute to the commitment and passion of our staff across the country.

"This announcement marks an important value realisation event in the Towergate journey in which a large number of our staff will participate."

The move followed the ending of talks with private equity firm Candover, which had been understood to be interested in buying a 25 per cent stake in the company.

This is not the first time Towergate has sold preference shares to Och-Ziff, the US hedge fund group founded by former Goldman Sachs trader Daniel Och. In November 2006 Och-Ziff and Reservoir Capital bought £100 million worth of the shares from Towergate.

Towergate is believed to be worth around £3 billion and is Europe’s largest independently-owned insurance intermediary.

Founded in 1997, it employs more than 4,000 in the UK, and provides over 200 specialist insurance products, including private helicopters, military kits and caravans.

In September, Towergate’s Maidstone office is due to move into new offices under construction at Eclipse Park.