An estate agency based in the North East of England has revealed a multi-million-pound investment in its business to fund more acquisitions by Irish equity investment firm BGF.

My Property Box was founded in 2012 by Ben Quaintrell and focuses on managing homes across the NE from its two branches in Darlington and Newcastle, serving both the professional and student markets.

As well as lettings, the agency also has a strong estate agency arm working across the region.

The firm is unusual because, despite its relative youth, it has made ten acquisitions since 2019 to create a ‘platform of scale’ in the region. Funding from BGF will support its ambitious ongoing buy and build strategy. This is when investors fund the expansion of companies through acquisition.

BGF operates in Ireland and the UK and has invested £4 billion to date and usually invests between £2m and £20m in exchange for a minority shareholding.

‘Buy and build’

This latest deal was led by James Baker from BGF’s Yorkshire & North East team who joins the board while buy and build specialist Richard Smith has been named non-executive chair and will join the board too.

Smith brings a wealth of experience in scaling buy and build platforms across various end sectors and will support the team in refining and executing its growth strategy.

Commenting on the deal, Ben Quaintrell, founder and CEO (main picture), says: “The North East lettings market remains fragmented, presenting us with opportunity to capitalise on our successful buy and build strategy.

“To execute this, we needed a long-term investment partner that shared our vision and understood the potential that exists – both in the company and in the market. In BGF, we believe we have found this and we’re looking forward to taking our growth plans to the next level with the support of a trusted investor.”