Naugatuck-based Ion Insurance Corp. has acquired an independent Cheshire insurance agency.

The Ion Bank affiliate has signed an agreement to acquire Drescher Insurance Agency in a transaction that Ion says will nearly double its size. The deal became effective Sept. 1.

Also effective Sept. 1, David Drescher, the owner and founder of the Cheshire agency, became the president and CEO of Ion Insurance.

Drescher Insurance, located at 92 Main St., was founded in 2003.  All of its seven employees will join Ion Insurance, increasing the size of Ion’s staff to about 20.

"This is just one more step down the road of bringing better service and a wider and deeper variety of products to our customers," Mary Kay Andrews, vice president of Ion Insurance, said in a statement.

Ion Insurance will be moving its entire operation to a new, 5,000-square-foot headquarters at 24 Cherry St. in Naugatuck in October.