By Lars Mucklejohn
Estate agency chain Fine and Country has agreed to be sold to The Property Franchise Group (TPFG) in a deal worth roughly £20m in the sector’s latest tie-up.
London-listed TPFG announced on Monday that it would acquire the Fine and Country and the Guild of Property Professionals.
It has agreed to pay £15m on completion of the deal and a further £5m on the first anniversary.
The tie-up is set to create a combined network of more than 1,946 outlets and give TPFG an international footprint for the first time, with Fine and Country operating in 193 UK locations and 65 locations across Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
The two businesses are due to keep operating under their existing brands.
The two assets, which operate through a licencing model, are being bought from Nurtur, which provides technology and communications to the residential property sector.
TPFG saw revenue of £61.5m and a pretax profit of £18.1m last year, while the assets being acquired generated £13.3m in revenue and £3.3m in profit.
It is the latest example of consolidation within the sector as it grapples with a housing market downturn and looming cuts to interest rates fuel a pickup in dealmaking activity. Other firms subject to takeover speculation include Strutt & Parker, Lomond Group and London-listed Foxtons.
The news comes just months after TPFG, which has a market capitalisation of £252.4m, agreed a merger with AIM-listed lettings companies Belvoir in January, which it completed in March.
Iain McKenzie, chief executive of the Guild and Fine & Country, said on Monday: “We have a proven track record of delivering innovation and marketing services across our network, and as a consequence of now being part of a larger group, our customers will benefit from existing supplier partnerships, allowing us to introduce significant additional benefits.”
Gareth Samples, CEO of TPFG, added: “It further enhances TPFG’s recurring revenue streams, adds the additional dimension of licensing to its platform and one significant complementary service, printed marketing materials.”
