Leaders join forces with Romans

Leading letting agents Romans and Leaders have merged to create one of the largest property services providers in the UK, with more than 40,000 properties under management. The groups, which have branches in London and across the South East, East Anglia, the Midlands and the North West, have joined forces in an attempt to capitalise on the growing private rental sector. The new collaboration between Leaders, which has 118 branches, and Romans, which has 27 branches, to form Property Services Holdings, will lead to combined revenues of around £100 million. The agents are being merged by Bowmark Capital, the private equity firm, which backed the management buyouts of Leaders in 2010 and Romans in 2013. Mark Salter, a Partner at Bowmark Capital, commented, “Leaders and Romans are outstanding businesses in their own right, and both have delivered impressive profit growth under Bowmark’s ownership. “Bringing them together creates a leading lettings-focused property services group that is greater than the sum of the parts, and is perfectly positioned to capitalise on the positive market conditions.” ICG has provided a substantial senior debt facility to support the merger of the two brands, which will continue to operate autonomously, and has committed a further…