Dexters has acquired Marsh & Parsons from LSL Property Services adding around 30 branches to the rapidly growing London-based estate agency.
EYE has been told that Dexters has been in talks for weeks with LSL, Marsh & Parsons’ now former parent company.
According to reports in 2011, LSL paid £52m for Marsh & Parsons, but we understand that the value of this latest transaction is around half that amount.
Dexters now has close to 150 offices across London, with 2,000 members of staff serving more than 37,000 landlords and advising on the sale of over £5bn worth of property per year.
The new combined business will have an annual turnover of over £180m and expects to handle over 35,000 property transactions annually.
Dexters will retain the Marsh & Parsons brand name, which is very well renowned in the London market, and over the coming years plan to double the size of the Marsh & Parsons business in line with the ongoing expansion of the estate agency group.
Andy Shepherd, CEO of Dexters, said: “Dexters has acquired Marsh & Parsons because we admire the business which is a well-established London brand with a loyal following of clients and has a very similar culture to dexters wth a focus on providing customers with strong local expertise across the capital. We plan to double the size of Marsh & Parsons, developing a market leader that stands apart from the competition.”
Marsh & Parsons, founded in 1856 and originally led by William Marsh and Frederick Parsons, currently has 30 London offices and over 300 staff. The involvement of the founding families in the business ended in 1956 and since 2011 Marsh & Parsons has been owned by LSL.
Justin King, chairman of Dexters, commented: “The acquisition of Marsh & Parsons is another important step in the ongoing growth of Dexters.
“The Dexters group now has more local offices and a greater presence than any other estate agency in London. Dexters group is the market leader offering an unrivalled personal service to buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants across the capital.”
In February 2021, Dexters announced a partnership and major financial backing from Oakley Capital with a growth strategy of opening further offices and building market share through the acquisition of other competitors, alongside expanding the group’s digital presence and services.
Dexters reports that it was 16% up on new instructions in December 2022 compared to 2021, and applicant registrations were up by 30% over the festive period, making for a busy start to 2023.
Dexters has maintained consistent growth, increasing revenue by 14% per year over the last 10 years.
The company recently announced the opening of nine new offices in south east London located in Blackheath, Brockley, East Dulwich, Honor Oak, Ladywell, Lee, New Cross, Nunhead and Peckham Rye.
More interesting why LSL sold than why Dexter’s bought. Makes no sense unless it was losing money. Or does LSL prefer simpler agency model succcch as Reed Rains??
For Dexter’s, they have to buy competitors or else the PE shark stops swimming and we know what happens then.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
M&P is a great brand and a perfect fit for Dexters. LSL will continue to offload estate agents as they move towards financial services.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
LSL do not really understand Estate Agency, that could be because they do not have an Estate Agent on the board. Like all property related transactions you have to be prepared to play the long game. The property market ebbs and flows and so does an estate agents profit. A bunch of accountants just do not get it. So they have dropped about £25m on the deal, add the £20m the p***ed up the wall on Yopa I make that £45m they have squandered. Yet still the board remain relatively unchanged.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Several firms trading under different names dominate the marketplace. For example, Countrywide have offices in southwest London and the surrounding areas trading under the Bairstow Eves, John D Wood and Hamptons banner. Foxtons bought Douglas and Gordon and, more recently, Gordon & Co. Now we have Dexters and Marsh and Parsons.
The aim of these large companies must be clear; once only a few players are left, the opportunity to raise fees will be much easier. How else are they going to pay for these purchases?
With this approach, there now seems to be a willingness to obtain a greater number of instructions, often seemingly regardless of whether or not the asking price is achievable.
While it is impossible to know whether actual applicant numbers are up 30%, however, we can, look at the Rightmove microsite of one of these firms, and see the following facts:
Of the forty-seven properties advertised, all it seems are available; (not one is marked as being under offer/sale agreed or sold)!
While eight new instructions have been taken on this year, a similar number of properties have already been reduced in price in 2023.
It appears that in total twenty-five of the forty-seven properties advertised have been reduced at least once.
I accept that revenue may have grown, but if you buy existing companies and add them to the mix, you would expect this.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
RIP M&P. It was a special brand and company. Now it’s part of the homogenous Dexters group and culture, which kills the soul of all the special brands it buys. Watch out for announcements of a stock market flotation in the not too distant future.
Good for Andy. Not for M&P staff and movers in the future. But hey, who cares about staff and clients if your main motivation in life is money?
I usually resist the temptation to make posts like this, but this corporate acquisition strategy only ends badly for non-shareholder stakeholders, ie staff and movers.
Yet another move away from an improved, fairer future for the owner-managed, high service ethos and ethics-based agents in London.
Sad times.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Spot on.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register