Lomond Capital swallows fifth lettings agency

THE owners of estate agency and property management agency Thornley Groves, have backed a further acquisition in Manchester.

South Manchester-based Thornley Groves, which was acquired by Scottish investor Lomond Capital in autumn 2013, has snapped-up Shepherd Gilmour, an independent sales and letting agents.

The addition of family-owned Shepherd Gilmour, which manages 280 city centre homes for buy-to-let landlords – takes Thornley Groves’ city centre portfolio to more than 2,900 properties.
 
Shepherd Gilmour was founded in 1996 by Peter Gilmour and is currently run by his daughter Laura Smith-Gilmour.  It will now be integrated into Thornley Groves,

Michael Groves, MD and founder of Thornley Groves commented: “We are proud to have built one of the region’s most recognisable estate agency brands since founding Thornley Groves in 1991 and, since we joined forces with Lomond Capital in 2013, we continue to run the business today.”

The deal marks the fifth acquisition in the North West by Lomond Capital, and the 23rd since it was formed in 2010.

The sector is seeing the consolidation of smaller businesses in order to provide improved service levels for property owners who now expect their asset managers to assist them with insurance, maintenance, legal services and mortgage sourcing, with a greater focus on tenant retention minimising void periods and enhancing yields.

Stuart Pender, chief executive of Lomond Capital, said: “Manchester has a very attractive property market offering with the largest private rental sector outside London. We are delighted to add Shepherd Gilmour to that of the Vital Space Manchester business, Allison and Co’s managed property portfolio and Penny Ashton Lettings, all of which have integrated into Thornley Groves in the last 15 months.
 
“We continue to look for opportunities to strengthen our offering in Manchester whilst working on a number of opportunities in other locations in England including Liverpool, Leeds and the south to add to our established presence in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham.”