Leaders Romans Group has acquired Northfields, a London-based residential lettings and sales business.
This is the first acquisition for the group since the recent purchase of LRG by Platinum Equity.
Richard Palfreeman, the founder of Northfields, which has four offices in Ealing, Ealing Broadway, Pitshanger and Shepherds Bush, will step down from the business following a handover period.
This acquisition will strengthen the group’s presence in the London region following the acquisition of Portico in October 2021. It also fills a geographic gap between Portico and Gibbs Gillespie in west London, complementing the recent acquisitions of Orchards in Ealing and Thorgills in Brentford.
Matthew Light, group mergers and acquisitions director at LRG, said: “We are thrilled to complete our first acquisition under Platinum’s ownership and look forward to welcoming the Northfields team to the LRG family. Following the acquisitions of Thorgills, Orchards and Portico last year, we continue to pursue our M&A strategy to service new areas, including the London region. Northfields is a fantastic success story of growth in a competitive market and their people-focussed ethos fits perfectly with that of LRG.”
The newly promoted group managing director at LRG, Michael Cook, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome this fantastic lettings and sales business into the LRG fold. It is certainly an exciting time for the group as we leverage new funding and additional resources available to us since our acquisition by Platinum Equity last month. Our ambitious plans for growth are reflected in our new five-year strategy to continue on the acquisition trail, with the objective of growing our presence across the UK.”
Palfreeman, chief executive officer at Northfields, added: “I’d like to thank the Northfields team for their ongoing hard work and support which has enabled us to grow to a successful four-branch business. Our recognised brand name made us an attractive prospect for buyers, but we chose to sell to LRG based on their strong reputation in the industry and ambitious growth plans. Their team have been a delight to work with and the whole process from start to finish has been completed very smoothly. I look forward to seeing the exciting future of the company under the LRG leadership.”
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Comments (8)
Great acquisition by LRG and heartfelt congrats to Richard!
Will never understand why people take the time to make negative comments about what is a great story for one of the industries hardest working and nicest guys out there.
Congratulations to Richard and all the team at Northfields.
Will never understand why people take the time to make negative comments about what is a great story for one of the industries hardest working and nicest guys out there.
I do not know the man. He has made a load of money and good luck to him no problem with that.
I do know the leaders group.
I feel for the staff who will be working for a company with a massive staff turnover.
It is not great storey for them
Great bit of business for Leaders/Romans getting one of the best independents arounds. Always a bit sad to see these pillors of the industry go like this but its of course the way of the world, hopefully it’ll retain some of its uniqueness.
And hats off to Palf one of the nicest guys and shrewdest operators around, absolutely well deserved given the business and teams he’s built there. I’ve got to say I couldn’t be more excited as now he’s finally going to have to put his hands in his pockets and pay for lunch !
No more short arms routine on the back of this news!!
The Landlords will soon be hit with up to a 24% mark up on contractors invoices and a letting contract that says the landlord can never sack them whilst the tenant is in situ despite the TPO finding several times that this is against their Code of Conduct – they rely on Landlords not knowing their rights to extract money from them. Shameful.
from independent to corporate feel for the staff
LRG have a fantastic acquisition team… really nice people but wait until they actually start running things….!! They’ll destroy what he had. I speak from experience! A very badly run outfit set to get worse now I imagine!!
What a fantastic acquisition for the Leaders Romans Group! I’ve known Richard for many years and worked alongside his wife (many) years ago. Northfields really are an outstanding agency who have inspired us at Thomas Morris over the years as well as sharing experiences via the National Advisory Council at Relocation Agent Network. Congratulations to all of you!