A building claims business set up by a former Longbridge spot welder following a burglary at his parents home has been sold in a £35 million deal.

LAS Claims Management, founded by Darren Cooper in 2005, has been bought by the Innovation Group from private equity firm Gresham.

LAS, based in TriGate House in Hagley Road, Birmingham, provides its customers with outsourced services, handling claims from storm damage to burst pipes, flood, fire, theft and accidental damage.

The company was set up in 2005 by former Rover worker Darren Cooper following a burglary at his parents’ home, when he was told it would take two days to get a locksmith out.

Darren set up a claims business from his front room, starting with locks and branching out into plumbing and drainage services before rapidly expanding following a joint venture with drainage services firm Lanes for Drains.

Within five years, the firm had grown into a business employing 200 people, and in 2010 a £12.3 million management buyout was engineered by private equity specialists Gresham.

The vast majority of LAS’s revenue comes from water-related claims.

In the financial year ended 31 July 2012, LAS reported £34.3 million of revenue (£8.3 million net of claims costs), a £300,000 loss before tax (after deducting £1.4 million of interest relating to shareholder loan notes) and £17.8 million of gross assets.

The company says the business has since been restructured, securing ‘several significant contract wins.’

The Innovation Group, a Hampshire-based global provider of business process services and software solutions to the insurance, fleet, motor and property industries, says the transaction will increase the UK property division’s addressable property market from a claims spend of £100 million to £1.3 billion.

The £35m will be paid in cash, inclusive of an element of consideration to be deferred for two years post completion (currently expected to be around £1.2m).

On completion, Darren Cooper, CEO of LAS, will join the new parent group, together with others on the LAS senior management team.