Reeds Rains is the largest independent estate agency in the North of England with 130 branches across Northern England and North Wales. In addition to the sale of residential property, 70 Financial Consultants advise on mortgages and associated insurances across the network, with over £750 million mortgage applications arranged per annum.
Although Reeds Rains becomes part of the wider Lending Solutions group, it will retain the very strong Reeds Rains brand and will operate as an autonomous business run by its existing management team. Reeds Rains and Your Move will operate as separate businesses, within the LSL group.
Reeds Rains management will retain 10% of the share capital, reinvesting in the business in order to benefit from the opportunities created by the change of ownership.
Simon Embley, Chief Executive of Lending Solutions said
“We are delighted to have brought Reeds Rains into the Lending Solutions group. As well as being a highly successful business with a very strong brand, Reeds Rains complements our existing businesses extremely well. With the advent of Home Information Packs, we believe this move positions us very well to take advantage of the forthcoming opportunities.
“I would like to welcome all employees of Reeds Rains, and look forward to working with you as part of this enlarged group.”
Nigel Favas, Managing Director of Reeds Rains said
“My team and I are extremely pleased that Reeds Rains is joining the Lending Solutions group, and becoming part of a wider business that will help and support our future development. I believe the change of ownership will produce many new opportunities to grow our business, and the synergies between ourselves and existing Lending Solutions companies will enable us to take maximum advantage from the forthcoming changes to the homebuying process”.
Lending Solutions acquired Your Move Estate Agency and e.surv Chartered Surveyors under a management buyout, backed by Barclays Private equity in July 2004. LSL’s 2004 income and profits showed strong growth despite the decline in housing transactions.
e.surv Chartered Surveyors has achieved remarkable further progress during 2005 including successfully acquiring outsourcing contracts for the supply of valuations to Abbey and Alliance & Leicester.
Your Move continues to perform well in 2005 despite market conditions, maintaining mortgage volumes and developing growth in other income lines such as insurance, conveyancing, and overseas property to offset the impact of the downturn.
In February 2005, LSL acquired a majority share in Homefast Property Lawyers. This business has already seen significant growth in transactional conveyancing instructions and a number of new contracts have been acquired to conduct remortgage legal work on behalf of lenders.
The completion of this second major acquisition represents a significant step towards our achieving our objectives in the property and financial services markets
