Following the takeover of Home of Choice by LSL Property Services earlier this year, the network rebranded to First Complete, headed up by John Ahmed, Richard Coulson and Gerry O’Brien.
In the past fortnight First Complete has announced that both O’Brien and Ahmed have left the company, and that Jon Round would step in as First Complete chief executive.
Simon Embley, CEO of LSL Property Services, said: “We absolutely back the management team at First Complete and Richard Coulson is central to our plans – that hasn’t and won’t change.
“Jon’s appointment to the helm of that business reflects LSL’s wider strategy. As a group, we already have relationships with lenders and providers and I wanted to see an LSL person managing First Complete to get the most value out of those strategic relationships.”
An industry source said that there had been rumours that many of First Complete’s appointed representatives had been in touch with other networks, including Intrinsic and Personal Touch, and could defect from First Complete because brokers felt loyalty to O’Brian and Ahmed.
But a First Complete spokeswoman said that Coulson, Round and Mark Graves, MD of part LSL-owned AR Linear and LSL financial services development director, had been touring the country last week talking to all First Complete ARs and that the response had been “fantastic”.
Embley reiterated this, saying he understood that many First Complete ARs had felt let down that Home of Choice had gone into administration, and were committed now to the new management team in place at First Complete. He said the retention rate of brokers at the network was 93%.
He added that LSL had already invested £1.5 million into the First Complete business and planned further investment in the coming year.
He said: “It’s partly for that reason that I wanted Jon Round at the helm of the business – I’ve worked with him in the past and know he’s the right person to help grow the network.”
Embley added: “I wish John luck in anything he does. All I’d say is that it’s not simple setting up a network.”
Ahmed is currently negotiating non-disclosure agreements with LSL and wasn’t able to confirm his plans at this stage.
Gerry O’Brien was unavailable for comment.
