Property vehicle Lomond Capital poised to unveil first deals in England

By Peter Ranscombe
Published on Sunday 19 February 2012 00:00

LOMOND Capital, the acquisition vehicle set up to consolidate the residential lettings market, is on the verge of announcing its first deals south of the Border even as it continues to expand in its Edinburgh home market.

Chief executive Stuart Pender – who with Roger Lane-Smith, one of the founders of law firm DLA Piper, launched Lomond in 2010 – said the firm is close to unveiling its first takeover in Manchester and is also eyeing targets in Newcastle.

Lomond is also expected to seal deals to enter the Glasgow market in the coming months and is running the rule over businesses in Aberdeen.

Pender said: “By the summer, we will have built the largest residential letting business in Edinburgh from a standing start 18 months ago. We aim to become the biggest player in Manchester within the next 12 months.”

News of the acquisition push comes as Lomond unveiled its latest takeover, snapping up Edinburgh-based lettings business James Gibb Property Management.

Lomond bought the business from brothers Derek and Kevin Gibb, the fifth generation of their family to run the firm, which was founded in 1872. The brothers will stay on as consultants for the next six months as James Gibb is integrated into the group, which already includes Braemore Property, the Letting Service and the Edinburgh branch of Slater Hogg & Howison.

Buying James Gibb also gives Lomond an entry point into the factoring market. Pender said he will use the James Gibb brand – which already looks after the maintenance of some 4,000 flats – as the starting point for buying other factoring businesses.

James Gibb’s 500 letting properties take Lomond’s total in the Scottish capital to 2,500 and Pender expects that total to grow to 3,500 by the summer as it buys other businesses, making it the largest player in Edinburgh.

Lomond will set up a separate holding company, Strathspey Capital, to run its new factoring operations.

The company is beefing up its senior management team and has brought in Julie Grieve – previously managing director of Abbey Business Centres – to run Braemore Property Management and to lead Lomond’s broader operations in Edinburgh. Meanwhile, Strathspey Capital will be headed by Douglas Weir, a former group director at Exova, the metal testing firm with operations at Aberdeen and Newbridge, near Edinburgh.

Pender led the management buyout of insurance firm Paymentshield in 2004 with backing from Bank of Scotland, growing profits to £45 million from £4m within four years. He stood down as chairman of Paymentshield last year to concentrate on Lomond, which has a £45m war chest to spend over the next four years.

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