LSL completes acquisition of Halifax Estate Agencies
YORKSHIRE property services group LSL has formally completed its acquisition of the Halifax Estate Agencies.
LSL, which operates the estate agency chains Your Move, Reeds Rains and InterCounty, agreed to buy the loss-making, 218-branch business from the Lloyds Banking Group in October. Shareholders agreed to the deal last month.
Lloyds’ disposal cost LSL £1 and it made the York-based business the second largest estate agency in the UK.
Halifax Estate Agencies Limited (HEAL), which employs 1,050 people and includes 93 franchises, had net assets of £38.4m at December 31, 2008. LSL said it would spend at least £22.2m on restructuring and rebranding.
Lloyds Banking Group said the sale of the loss-making estate agency business would see the closure of 121 Halifax banking counters in estate agency branches with the loss of 360 full-time jobs.
In a trading update earlier this month LSL said it was looking for more acquisitions. The group said turnover for the six months to December 31 was up by 21% with its estate agency turnover up by 42%.
