Manchester-based Thornley Groves has bought one of its competitors, Shepherd Gilmour, in the city centre.

The acquisition is the fifth in Manchester by Lomond Capital, which acquired Thornley Groves in September 2013 – and the 23rd acquisition since Lomond Capital was formed in 2010.

The latest acquisition takes the total number of properties managed by Thornley Groves to over 2,900 and means that ambitious Lomond now manages a rental portfolio of 8,600 properties worth in excess of £1.75bn across Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester. It also sells over £200m of homes a year.

Lomond plans to open in at least two more cities this year and is eyeing up London.

Shepherd Gilmour, which handles both sales and lettings, was established in 1996 by Peter Gilmour and is currently run by his daughter Laura Smith-Gilmour.

The Shepherd Gilmour team will be joining Thornley Groves, founded by Michael Groves and Jason Watkin.

Groves said: “Shepherd Gilmour has built its business by offering a personal service to clients, where the owners of the business have been involved with the day to day running of the business.

“Jason and I operate in the same way. We welcome the clients and customers of Shepherd Gilmour and look forward to offering them the same personal service.

“We are proud to have built one of the region’s most recognisable estate agency brands since founding Thornley Groves in 1991 and, since we joined forces with Lomond Capital in 2013, we continue to run the business today. We retain significant shareholdings and remain focused on providing a hands-on proprietor-led service to our clients.”

The five purchases made in Manchester are Thornley Groves itself, Vital Space’s Manchester business, Allison and Co’s managed property portfolio, Penny Ashton Lettings and now Shepherd Gilmour.

Stuart Pender, chief executive of Lomond Capital, said: “We continue to look for opportunities to strengthen our offering in Manchester, whilst working on a number of opportunities in other locations in England including Liverpool, Leeds and the south of England to add to our established presence in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham.”