Two Scottish housebuilders tie the knot in major £46 million takeover move

Springfield Properties has struck a £46.3 million deal to acquire the housebuilding business of Mactaggart & Mickel in a major consolidation move for the sector in Scotland.

Stock market-listed Springfield, which has undertaken a series of takeovers in recent years, is buying family owned Mactaggart & Mickel’s housebuilding division, including six live development sites and 11 future private and affordable sites across Scotland’s Central Belt.

Under this agreement, Springfield will deliver homes on these sites under Mactaggart & Mickel’s brand over the next three years.

The group, which floated on the stock market in 2017, has also acquired Glasgow-based Mactaggart & Mickel’s timber systems operation and the companies have entered into a strategic alliance that gives Springfield opportunities for future acquisitions of sites from Mactaggart’s strategic land portfolio across Scotland.

Mactaggart & Mickel’s Scottish homebuilding business will continue to operate within the Springfield group under its own brand, led by its existing directors Peter Shepherd, Marion Forbes and Joanne Casey. All employees working on Mactaggart’s development sites and the timber systems business retain their jobs under the agreement.

Ed Monaghan is to retire in October as group chief executive of Mactaggart & Mickel after working for the company for more than 40 years, including more than 15 as chief executive.

Paul McAninch, who has been Mactaggart & Mickel’s group finance director for more than seven years, will lead the group as its new chief executive.

The total consideration for the deal is £46.3m, comprising £10.5m in cash paid on completion and a deferred cash consideration of £35.8m to be paid proportionally as homes are sold over the next five years.

Innes Smith (chief executive, Springfield) ; Sandy Adam (chairman, Springfield) ; Ross Mickel (group director, Mactaggart and Mickel ); Paul McAninch (group finance director, Mactaggart and Mickel­)

Separately, Mactaggart & Mickel’s investments, strategic land, commercial property, private rental sector (lettings) and contracts divisions will remain under Mactaggart & Mickel Group control.

Innes Smith, chief executive of Springfield Properties, said: “Built up over 100 years in housebuilding, Mactaggart & Mickel has an outstanding reputation for building high-quality, premium homes backed up by their consistently outstanding levels of customer satisfaction and recognition received through numerous industry awards.

“The acquisition of Mactaggart & Mickel’s housebuilding business brings with it that strong reputation along with great people and brilliant sites in fantastic locations, this includes the impressive Sandringham Gate development in Newton Mearns.

“The addition of a timber frame facility in the Central Belt, alongside our existing facility in Elgin, secures Springfield’s supply of timber kits, providing further capacity for growth while reducing our carbon footprint by enabling local manufacture of all kits.”

He added: “We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues to the group and to working together to continue delivering high-quality homes across Scotland.”

Established in Moray, Springfield Properties has grown to become one of Scotland’s leading housebuilders.

McAninch said: “This agreement enables us to focus on our future investment strategy, which has served the group well in recent years. We are actively looking to expand into new projects and increase our presence and development activity across the UK.

“Since we were established in 1925, Mactaggart & Mickel has adapted as circumstances around us have changed,” he added.