James Gibb Property Management Ltd, which trades as James Gibb residential factors, has acquired the residential factoring division of Aberdeen-based commercial property consultancy FG Burnett.

The acquisition grows the number of properties under management by James Gibb by 3,000 units, taking its total number of managed properties to over 50,000.

James Gibb’s Aberdeen region has increased its staffing levels by three to manage this new portfolio and is also doubling its office space in the city centre. Growth in Aberdeen has been significant over the past two years for James Gibb, which has tripled the volume of properties under management in the city since 2019.

Richard Noble, managing director at F G Burnett commented: “We are pleased to have completed this disposal to James Gibb, leaders in the residential property factoring arena.  It was important to FG Burnett that the portfolio transferred to a manager of real quality to the benefit of the developments we factored.  This allows us to focus on growing our commercial property management portfolio together with our other core services including agency, building surveying, valuation and rating and we are very excited about that prospect.”

The acquisition marks another milestone in the growth of James Gibb, which has now grown more than 12-fold in the last ten years. In 2012, the business had 4,000 units under management when it was acquired by Strathspey Capital, its parent company. The business is seeking further opportunities to grow through acquisition, including setting its sights on key cities in England, such as Birmingham and Manchester.

Douglas Weir, CEO of James Gibb, said: “We have been consolidating the factoring sector in Scotland carefully and this is another statement move as we aim to create genuine competition and differentiation in the market. It brings together two significant residential factoring portfolios in the North of Scotland, which can only benefit property owners. With a professional central services team assisting local operations, we are well placed to deliver superb customer service.”

He added: “This is an exciting time for our industry where consolidation of existing factoring businesses will lead to improved resources and enhanced technological capabilities. We have seen the lettings sector consolidate dramatically and we expect to see factoring go through a similar process of change.”