Countrywide is chopping one of its best known brands to merge it into John D Wood & Co, and folding six others by re-branding them as ‘part of John D Wood & Co’.

It is describing the exercise as an expansion.

The official announcement, which critics will undoubtedly see as heavily spun, was made under the headline “John D Wood & Co is expanding – delivering more for its customers”.

It describes John D Wood as a “traditionally modern” estate agent and talks about a family of brands creating a London powerhouse.

The announcement says that the expansion comes about after “the largest customer insight project undertaken by any company in the sector, which found that people want to access a full range of expertise under one roof”.

Because of this, it went on: “We are making some significant changes to our business to enable us to offer our clients and customers an even better level of service.”

Faron Sutarian is being merged into John D Wood, which will become a 51-branch network through the merger and “other collaborations”.

Brands Alan de Maid, Hetheringtons, Vanet, Fitz-Gibbon, APW Lettings, and CHK Mountford are all being re-labelled.

The press release says that John D Wood will now offer several new benefits, including an increased branch network; more staff with local expertise; specialist departments; residential development; and agricultural sales and estate management.

Faron Sutaria has been a well known player in the London property market for over 40 years.

Faron Sutaria’s Chiswick branch has already relocated into a neighbouring John D Wood & Co office,  on Turnham Green Terrace.

During the rest of the year, Faron Sutaria’s offices in Lower Sloane Street, Earls Court, Fulham Broadway, Islington, Notting Hill Gate, Shepherds Bush and South Kensington will prominently feature in the merger, “being fully rebranded in due course”.

The announcement goes on: “Alan de Maid and Hetheringtons have enjoyed a long relationship with John D Wood & Co through its London Country Association, benefiting from the co-marketing of outer London and country property to London buyers.

“These two companies will now be co-branded as ‘part of John D Wood & Co.’ as will Vanet, based in Canary Wharf, and three specialist lettings agencies in west London and Surrey, Fitz-Gibbon, APW Lettings and CHK Mountford.”

Ben Taylor, managing director of John D Wood & Co, said:  “We are bringing together a family of innovative, bespoke and personal estate agency brands to create a London powerhouse to serve our discerning client base.

“We are taking the best practice from each company and combining this with the in depth knowledge, professionalism and excellent customer service our whole team delivers.

“This is a very exciting time for John D Wood & Co and for our customers who will benefit from our increased size and strength.  Expect to see a lot of activity over the coming months.”

Taylor has been managing director of John D Wood since last November.

Before that, he was responsible for sales, lettings and professional services across John D Wood, Faron Sutaria, APW, CHK Mountford, Vanet, Hetheringtons, Alan de Maid and Fitz Gibbon.

Prior to that, he was managing director of another Countrywide brand, Carson & Co, and earlier to that, managing director of Gascoigne Pees.