Lambert Smith Hampton this week swooped on Belfast-based BTWShiells to take a foothold in a market it sees as lagging just behind Dublin’s recovery.
LSH said Northern Ireland’s economy is forecast to grow by an average of 2.2% pa over the next five years, following an average contraction of 1.4% pa from 2008 to 2013.
Chief executive Ezra Nahome said: “Belfast was a moribund market as a consequence of the recession. But we see it as being 12 months behind Dublin and therefore providing big opportunities.”
Total investment volumes in Northern Ireland reached a low of around £10m in 2009, but £156m of deals were transacted in Q1 2014, LSH figures show.
Nahome pointed to Nama’s successful sale of its £4.5bn Project Eagle Northern Irish loan book to the LSH-advised Cerberus Capital Management in April as a sign that the market is now open for business.
The 75-strong commercial division of BTWShiells has more than 8m sq ft of shopping centre and retail park space under management in Northern Ireland, including the 800,000 sq ft Victoria Square in Belfast.
The deal is LSH’s first acquisition since being taken over by Countrywide last September.
BTWShiells will be rebranded as LSH and give the agent an office in every major region of the UK. The last filed accounts for the Belfast agency, for the year ended June 2012, show a turnover of just over £12m.
The purchase does not include BTWShiells’ 45-strong residential business. LSH said it would not add anything to the wider business of Countrywide, the UK’s largest estate agency.
The transaction sees BTWShiells’ management team return to LSH, having been part of the business until a 2003 management buy-out.
BTWShiells’ existing management team will retain leadership roles in LSH’s operations in Ireland.
Nahome said: “Before the Countrywide takeover we were not in a position to make acquisitions. But we are very much open to future acquisitions now.”
nick.whitten@estatesgazette.com
