Hambro Countrywide has boosted its estate agency business to 750 branches with the purchase of the 300-strong Nationwide chain. The group is also buying Nationwide Surveyors, the professional services and valuations division, for £12m in shares. The estate agency business is being picked up for just £1 in cash.
Hambro will become the UK’s leading estate agency chain and the Nationwide Surveyors division will provide Hambro with national coverage.
Nationwide grew from the acquisition of some 50 independently owned estate agencies and surveying businesses in 1987 to a peak of 500 branches in 1988.
Since then the business has been slimmed down and 200 branches closed. In the year to March the business made a loss of £13.86m.
Nationwide Surveyors was set up in 1992 to undertake commercial and residential valuations. In the last financial year 156,900 valuations and 13,300 homebuyers’ reports were completed by the firm’s 253 surveyors in 13 regional offices.
