Franchisees of Belvoir have made a £1m acquisition of a major rival. It is one of the three most expensive purchases ever made by a Belvoir franchise business.
Brighton franchisees Wai Lam and Nathan Crombie have bought Homelets Brighton, a firm that has been going for some 25 years.
The purchase has tripled the size of Belvoir’s business in the notoriously competitive city and added almost 350 properties to the lettings portfolio.
The pair joined Belvoir in 2015, buying the Brighton business from an existing Belvoir franchisee.
Belvoir CEO Dorian Gonsalves said: “From day one they have worked extremely hard and demonstrated real determination and entrepreneurial spirit, winning several Belvoir and national awards in the process.
“Wai and Nathan possess all the qualities and ambition needed to successfully transition from the journey of new franchisees through to securing a million pound acquisition in such a short time.
“This is a highly significant acquisition.
“Nathan and Wai also offer a residential sales service, and I am confident that this acquisition will be of enormous benefit to the business, the brand and also to local landlords, tenants and investors. We wish them every success for the future.”
The six members of the Homelets team are joining the Belvoir business.
Nathan Crombie said: “Wai and I have been looking for an opportunity to grow our business for some time, and when this opportunity was brought to our attention by the Belvoir acquisition team it seemed ideal.
“We took time to get to know the business and understand what this would mean and we are now looking forward to expanding our client base and working with new landlords and tenants.”
Wai Lam said of the acquisition: “The Belvoir acquisition team has been available throughout every step of the journey, offering considerable advice and support when needed.
“It took a few months to get to this stage and was very stressful at times, but we can’t wait to start building the business further and expanding on our already growing business.”
Comments (8)
Seems to be the shortcut to “success?” …..if you do your due diligence. Positive that existing staff remain if they have helped build a successful business.
Sounds like they have significantly over paid to me.
Positive as ever
“Positive as ever”
Nope, ARC – smile please said “Sounds like… to me”
He never claimed to be positive about it.
I know, it was ironic, he is very rarely positive about anything .
I know that’s what you thought, it was sarcasm.
You are rarely complimentary to any high street Agent.
Fair comment Arc, all I seem to do is comment on the story’s I am disillusioned by. Maybe I should speak up more or the good news stories.
Paying 3k per managed property in the market we are entering is too much (my opinion) all the reports show landlords are looking to reduce portfolios, the extra compliance risk taken on, landlords going from a small independent to a large franchise, Brighton is a very fickle market corporates and franchises have all historically struggled in the town where small independents rule.
I hope they do well, but buying success at a high price is a very big risk especially in the market we are heading.
Where I wish them well I congratulate Homelets on achieving that figure. Hats off to their accountants and business adviser / seller.
Paying the thick end of 3k per managed property is definitely a good news story.