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BREAKING: Industry giant Leaders Romans Group sold to private equity firm

Announcement is just shy of six years since Bowmark merged Leaders and Romans to create 210-branch estate agency giant.

Nigel Lewis

leaders romans

Leading estate agency bluechip the Leaders Romans Group (LRG) is to be sold by its venture capital owner the Bowmark Group.

It has signed a binding agreement to sell LRG to another big money firm, Platinum Equity for an undisclosed sum.

LRG was formed in 2016 from the merger of two Bowmark estate agency firms, Leaders Lettings and Romans Group, forming a new industry giant with 210 branches and managing some 62,000 properties across the UK.

Since then revenues at LRG have trebled to £165 million and its workforce has swelled from 960 to 2,500 aided by over 130 business acquisitions and lettings portfolio purchases.

This expansion has come at a cost – last year it spent £25 million on buying up competitors and this year had revealed plans to spend £20 million on a similar buying spree.

Instrumental

Link to agent interviewPeter Kavanagh (pictured), LRG’s Chief Executive Officer, says: “Our partnership with Bowmark has been instrumental in building LRG into one of the leading property services groups in the UK.

“As a result of the investment in people, operations and new services, the business is well-positioned to capitalise on the exciting opportunities that lie ahead – both from organic growth and the continuation of our successful acquisition strategy.

“I look forward to working with Platinum in the next stage of LRG’s development.”

Bowmark partner Tom Shelford adds: “We are delighted to have supported LRG to become the leading consolidator in the sector.

“The exceptional calibre of LRG’s people, and its focus on service excellence through digital transformation and product innovation, will ensure its continued success with its new investment partner.”

January 24, 2022

2 comments

  1. I agree with the continual use of tech-but how much did this firm make in the last few years.

    Romans, I had great admiration for this business historically but not the same beast today. Just IMO.

  2. As Bowmark put it, ‘The exceptional calibre of LRG’s people, and its focus on service excellence through digital transformation and product innovation, will ensure its continued success with its new investment partner.’

    Re-enforcing that if you have a strong, focused person like Peter at the top of the business pushing through the core values of the business, you invest in the right people, and you embrace proptech – the digital transformation of real estate, you have a scalable and salable business.

    A thing to think of at the micro-level for SME owners looking to ‘sell’ their businesses, the more digital and efficient it is, the higher revenue and profit, and better price acheived. Tech is not the enemy, tech leverages the talents of great sales and lettings team. Which is why we have at Proptech-PR being offering an advisory service since 2017 to agents who need to modernise.

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