Belvoir has completed the acquisition of West Midlands based Goodchilds Estate Agents and Lettings Ltd, taking the number of offices in its network to 211.

Founded by David Warke in 2004, Goodchilds, which has 16 property sales and lettings branches located across the West Midlands, will now become part of Belvoir-owned Newton Fallowell group, under the leadership of Chief Executive, Mark Newton.

Mark Newton said, “I am really looking forward to Goodchilds coming on board, and welcoming a further 16 offices to the Newton Fallowell network, which will bring the total to 46.

“The balance of lettings and property sales within the Goodchilds network is currently 70 per cent lettings and 30 per cent estate agency. Newton Fallowell’s strength and expertise in estate agency will help to enhance the sales side of the business and the added support of Belvoir as a parent company will greatly benefit all aspects of business growth.”

Aside from significantly increase the volume of offices in Belvoir’s network, the acquisition of Goodchilds has also boosted the number of properties managed by the firm to 35,000.

“The acquisition represents a clear strategic fit with our acquisition strategy of building a network based on multi-brand franchises, which will increase market share and geographic coverage,” said Dorian Gonsalves (left), Belvoir’s Director of Commercial and Franchising.

He added, “When Belvoir floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2012 we made a clear promise to our network and our investors that we would reach 200 offices before the end of 2016. The acquisition of Goodchilds just two months after the acquisition of Newton Fallowell now puts us well ahead of this target and with further acquisitions in the pipeline, we are looking forward to breaking new barriers in the future.”

Meanwhile, MartinCo Plc, one of the UK’s largest property franchises, has rebranded as The Property Franchise Group.

The decision to rebrand was taken by the Board of the parent company MartinCo Plc after two years of sharp growth and the expansion of its property brands from one to five – the Property Franchise Group consists of five estate agencies across England, Scotland and Wales: CJ Hole, Ellis & Co, Martin & Co, Parkers, and Whitegates – and a network of almost 300 offices.

“We floated Martin & Co on the stock market and it became MartinCo Plc. But after we acquired the four brands of CJ Hole, Ellis & Co, Parkers and Whitegates we felt it made sense to use a trading name that better explains our business model, which is to be the dominant owner of multiple property franchise brands in the UK,” said CEO Ian Wilson (right).

The parent company name will remain MartinCo Plc, according to Wilson, but he insisted that the firm wanted to offer “equal balance to all our brands.”

Mr Wilson also revealed that the fast-growing business has set a goal of reaching a network of 500 offices by 2018, including organic growth and the acquisition of more brands.