A year ago, Peter Knight, founder of the EA Masters and Property Academy, acquired a shareholding in Relocation Agent Network (RAN).

Knight’s stake in the business, founded in 1994, was seen as significant. In early 2023, RAN was acquired by Realogist Limited, whose directors were at the time Simon Whale, Kevin Ellis, Richard Durrant and Ian Stratford, with Durrant assuming the role of managing director. The new structure saw Ellis and Stratford exit the business.

But 12 months on, Durrant’s position as a director was recently terminated, while Knight has now sold his stake in the business.

So what exactly is happening at RAN? EYE got in touch with Simon Whale to find out more.

He offered a bit of context: “When I acquired the Relocation Agent Network at the start of last year, I needed someone to come in and get their arms around it, understand the business and all its intricacies, and then build a proposition and a team to move the network forwards.

“I have spent decades networking and clearly know a lot of people in the industry, which is filled with some fantastic operators, but yet again as he helped me with a number of businesses, Rich was my go-to, and the network wouldn’t be what it is today without him. We’ve added 58 new members since we started the recruitment phase over the last few months and have ensured that our panel members are of the right calibre around the country to ensure that our leads are placed correctly and now with over 700 offices that’s clearly the case with 92% of leads being taken up by one of the network.

“Rich’s heart lies in agency, more specifically lettings and while he honoured his promise of committing to getting RAN onto solid foundations, he always said to me he would want to get back into the coal face of agency and with the change in focus of what we now need to grow the business this is the perfect time for the change. Rich has just launched his fractional lettings director service and I can’t talk highly enough of him and he’ll continue to work with the network going forwards.

“There’s an amazing opportunity with RAN as was clearly demonstrated by the number of underbidders when we were fortunate to get in the box seat. Now that the network is on solid foundations, we turn our attention to delivering better tech both around the whole referral process itself and with the supplier deals we can offer to our members.

“With this slight change of direction, I’ve turned to one of the best in the business in Matt Goddard who is coming on board as we continue to invest, including recruiting team members in marketing & finance to help grow the network.  Matt was a board member colleague of mine at Reapit and many will know him as one of the most savvy people in the industry with that rare combination of both technical expertise and commercial acumen & he delivers in spades on all counts.  He’s going to work on that tech project for us with a number of key partners.

“In addition, I have agreed a deal to buy Peter Knight’s shares in RAN. Peter came in to help me and Rich look at what was working in RAN and what needed to change to make sure the network had a clear vision going into its 31st year needs to look like.  When we look at our good friends at the Guild and their fantastic recent sale, it shows what is achievable.  I want to ensure that our members have the ability to benefit from the growth of the network, so Peter, Richard and I decided that we want to give members the ability to get ‘skin in the game’ and get equity in RAN. Plenty of businesses talk about ‘our clients come first’ and it feels like a bit of a hollow promise but I’m going to put my money where my not inconsiderable mouth is and make that happen, and of course its good business sense because if they win we all win.

“I’m delighted to say that Peter couldn’t have been more supportive in this aim, given the long history he’s had with the network and of course I’d like to thank Peter and I’m sure he’ll continue to be an avid supporter of RAN and we’ll continue to work together whenever we can.”

We also asked Peter Knight to comment.

He added: “Last year, I was pleased to have the opportunity to get involved with RAN, a network I’ve enjoyed a long relationship with.

“As Simon Whale and I reimagined how the network would function going forward, it became increasingly clear that it needs to be much more heavily based on tech driven functionality, and so Simon acquired my shares to enable him to either partner with a tech provider or invest with members support in this direction.

“Simon and I remain very good friends, and I will continue to support the goals of RAN and the members in the network in every way I can.”