Bigwood enters the big time with major acquisition
PROPERTY auction house Bigwood, now part of the SDL Group, has strengthened its Midlands presence with a major acquisition.
The Birmingham-based firm has acquired the largest and most successful auction house in the East Midlands, Graham Penny Auctions.
Graham Penny Auctions holds regular sales in Derby, Leicester and Nottingham and the acquisition will make the SDL Group’s auction operation the largest in the UK outside of London.
The acquisition will double the total sales of the group’s auction division to more than £160m per annum, taking it into the top four auction firms nationwide.
The SDL Group has engineered and funded the acquisition to further enhance the group’s financial strength and to help Bigwood and Graham Penny to build nationally.
The announcement that the two auction houses are to combine comes as both have just delivered record results at their first events in 2016.
In February Graham Penny Auctions held three auctions in Leicester, Nottingham and Derby, raising £14m across more than 130 lots, while Bigwood’s February auction at Aston Villa Football Club saw 138 lots offered and takings of £17.5m.
In 2015, Bigwood sold more than £77m worth of property across six auctions, £15m more than 2014, averaging an 88% sale success rate across the year.
Bigwood CEO Rory Daly said: “This marks the next step in the evolution of SDL’s strategy to build the leading national auction brand, starting with last year’s acquisition of Bigwood and now this exciting move to bring the Graham Penny business into the group.
“This acquisition catapults the combined businesses to aggregate annual sales revenues of over £160m and places us in the top four of all such firms in the UK.”
Bigwood’s acquisition of Graham Penny Auctions is the first to be announced since Bigwood was itself acquired by SDL Group in January.
The deal will see shareholder and co-founder James Cockayne retire, while John Fearnehough and Graham Penny – a well-known face to many following his regular appearances on the BBC’s Homes Under the Hammer – will continue with the business as consultants. The business will be run by managing director Andrew Parker, who will report to Mr Daly.
Browne Jacobson’s Nottingham-based corporate finance and banking team advised SDL on the deal.
The team was led by corporate finance partner Mark Hughes, assisted by Paul McCannah, Beth Dowson and Sandra Wong with banking advice provided by head of banking & finance Paul Ray.
Browne Jacobson also advised SDL on a £10m investment by the Business Growth Fund in 2015 – the first made by the fund in a property services company.
Pictured from left are: Paul Gratton, chief executive officer of the SDL Group, Andrew Parker, managing director, Graham Penny Auctions, Rory Daly, CEO, Bigwood and Graham Penny.
