Ireland’s pioneering online auction house BidX1 has bought London-based ballroom auctioneer Andrews & Robertson as the first step in plans for a rapid UK expansion.
The new operation aims to hold its first UK online auction in early March, offering at least 40 residential and commercial lots from across the UK via BidX1’s bespoke online platform.
The deal comes less than six months after BidX1’s parent company, Space Property Group, ended its six-year Irish joint venture with UK market leader Allsop. SPG bought Allsop out of the Allsop Ireland jv in August and rebranded it as BidX1 with a purely online remit.
Allsop Ireland has sold more than 6,000 assets in Ireland, raising in excess of €1.2bn (£1bn) since 2011, making it the country’s largest auctioneer. It began using online auctions in 2015 and found this method resulted in greater volumes of bids per lot, and consequently higher success rates and premiums for clients (see table). It has a database of 77,000 registered buyers.
Opportunity
Stephen McCarthy, managing director of SPG and BidX1, said: “We looked at the UK and saw an opportunity to create an online business. Allsop has a great business here, but my view was different to theirs about how quickly online could become prevalent in the auction market. At that point I decided to row my own canoe. I wanted local expertise and looked at a number of companies.”
McCarthy described the deal with A&R, led by chairman and senior auctioneer Robin Cripp and director and auctioneer John Weatherall, as the “perfect match between their experience and our technology”. “They are veterans of the auction business and have a team of experienced surveyors,” he said. A&R sold £107m of stock last year, ranking it as the UK’s seventh-largest residential auctioneer.
The combined client base includes fund managers, private equity houses, banks, government departments, housing authorities and London councils.
McCarthy, who owns SPG with his wife, will look at buying other UK auctioneers and plans to bring in commercial specialists to balance A&R’s residential focus. “In Ireland, 50% of our market is commercial and that is our intention here,” McCarthy said. “We would like to be a very big player within the commercial investment business.”
He intends to expand the business into a European trading platform, offering lots outside Ireland and England in the next 12 months. SPG owns and manages its own software, giving it full control of its data.
First online sale planned for Q1
Savills is planning to hold its first online sale in Q1, while Allsop launched its online auction service for new homes back in 2016. Cripp and Weatherall will continue with the BidX1 UK business and their team of 12 staff will be retained, as will its base in Camberwell, SE5. BidX1 has a temporary West End office and is seeking a permanent base of 2,000-3,000 sq ft.
Cripp, 73, who bought 162-year-old firm A&R in 2008, said: “This is an exciting adventure. We weren’t looking for anybody, but we were looking at going online. Everybody feels it has to be attacked soon. Online auctions are going to be a big part of the future. Ballroom sales will carry on indefinitely. It is important to be able to offer a number of things for different clients.” Ballroom sales will use the A&R brand.
Cripp said he had watched Newcastle-based IAM Sold’s rapid growth, boosted by online sales.
Allsop partner Gary Murphy said: “Our online auction capabilities are fully developed and in use in the global marketing of new homes off plan. The platform may be recommended in other areas, but only if this is in our clients’ best interests.”
He added: “While our Irish collaboration has been extremely successful, an auction jv in the UK has never been part of the Allsop plan.”
BidX1’s McCarthy on the UK market
“The auction market in the UK is very mature, but very traditional, with predominantly investors and property folk using it. If you make it more open, transparent and easier, new buyers and sellers will come to the market.
“I have huge respect for Allsop and Savills. Our goal is not to chip off what is already there. We want to create a new market, with new entrants and new buyers.
“All auctioneers are agreed that we are moving towards online sales. The question is how quickly. My view is more quickly. It’s very important to be first to market.”
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