Lomond adds pace and scale to UK-wide expansion strategy with another brace of acquisitions
Lomond is delighted to announce that our Stonehouse Lettings brand, which operates throughout the key heartland of Aberdeenshire, has bought the independent agency, Grant Fairbairn Property Leasing.
Almost 200 rental properties will be added to the Stonehouse portfolio, which is now in excess of 1,750, and sees Grant Fairbairn staff join the existing Stonehouse team at Neo House.
The deal further strengthens our position as Scotland’s largest estate agency group, a status achieved after we completed the “transformational” acquisition of Edinburgh’s DJ Alexander less than six months ago.
Andrew Seldon, CEO for North and West of Scotland, said: “Our latest acquisition brings together two home-grown Aberdeen success stories.
“It also underpins the Lomond’s market-leading profile across Scotland. After a year of sustained growth, we have propelled the number of properties under the management of our Scottish brands to approaching 10,000.
“This deal represents a perfect strategic, geographical and people fit - and we thank Grant Fairbairn, who founded the agency five years ago, for entrusting Stonehouse and Lomond to build on the platform he has created.
“As a company proud of our Scottish roots, this will help us to unlock the rental potential that exists in Aberdeen – a district which consistently tops the tables of the best places to live, work and study.
“Both agencies share the same footprint, so this injection of new properties will dovetail seamlessly into Stonehouse’s established branch in central Aberdeen.”
Stonehouse became part of Lomond in late 2020, when Lomond joined forces with Linley & Simpson to co-create a new national lettings and sales business. It had previously been a key strand of Lomond's business since 2012.
Lomond now has a combined UK portfolio of over 35,000 properties, worth around £8bn, under management; and operates major hubs in sales and private rental hotspots including Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Brighton, Hull, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, West Sussex and York.
We have brought together some of the strongest letting and estate agency names on the UK High Street, including Linley & Simpson across Yorkshire and the Humber; Thornley Groves in Greater Manchester and Cheshire; John Shepherd in its Birmingham and Midlands hub; Brand Vaughan plus Michael Jones and Company in the South East; as well as DJ Alexander and Stonehouse in our Scottish heartlands.
Lomond has the backing of leading private equity firm LDC, with access to further acquisition investment provided by LGT Capital Partners.