Edinburgh-based residential property manager Umega has acquired a majority stake in Easylets, a Dundee-based lettings and property management platform.<\/p>\n
Founded in 2007 by Andy Whitmey and Neil McInnes, Umega has grown from 50 properties under management at inception to more than 2,500 today, through organic growth and an acquisition programme spanning five completed transactions since 2015.<\/p>\n
The addition of Easylets brings almost 1,000 more properties to the group, taking the combined platform to more than 3,500 properties under management and establishing the business as the second-largest residential lettings operator in Scotland.<\/p>\n
Easylets’ founder Jack Reavley retains a shareholding in the business and will remain involved following completion. The Easylets brand will also be retained, with Reavley continuing to lead its growth in the Dundee market.<\/p>\n
“I built Easylets over 25 years and I wasn’t ready to walk away from it,” he commented. “With Umega I didn’t have to – I\u2019m now a partner in the business and I'm still here for our landlords, but I’m spending far less time on the day to day and far more on the parts I love and where I can have the most impact.”<\/p>\n
Neil McInnes, managing director and co-founder of Umega, said: “We’ve been building this business one city at a time, and Easylets is a genuinely exciting addition – a well-run, long-established agency with deep roots in the Dundee landlord community that we can now back with our marketing infrastructure, technology platforms, and integration experience.<\/p>\n
“What mattered to us was finding a lending partner that understands what a lettings management business actually looks like financially – the recurring fee model, the cash flow dynamics, the acquisition multiples we work to – rather than trying to shoehorn us into a framework built for a different kind of business.”<\/p>\n
Andy Whitmey, co-founder and chief revenue officer at Umega, added: “We’re actively looking to move into new territories across Scotland and for further smaller acquisitions in Edinburgh and Dundee.”<\/p>\n
The deal was backed by a \u00a31.05m facility from OakNorth Bank.<\/p>\n
Debt finance director Michael McGregor explained: “Umega is exactly the kind of business we find compelling – deeply embedded in its market, genuinely differentiated from the competition, and led by a management team that has shown it can execute the same playbook repeatedly without losing focus on the day-to-day quality of the business.<\/p>\n
“The Scottish private rented sector is growing and, if anything, regulatory complexity is creating structural advantages for operators such as Umega that are built to handle it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The acquisition – Umega’s sixth since 2015 – was backed by a \u00a31m banking facility<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278857,"featured_media":8753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"coauthors":[137126],"class_list":["post-8752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-edinburgh-lothians","tag-featured-story","tag-tayside-fife"],"yoast_head":"\n