Property firm DJ Alexander on acquisition trail
LETTINGS firm DJ Alexander is flexing its muscles after securing “substantial funding” from private and institutional investors to push forward with an acquisition programme.
The Edinburgh-based firm, already one of the biggest players in a competitive rental market across the Central Belt, has also merged with another city agency, Edinburgh Property Management (EPM).
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Hide AdDJ Alexander Lettings is managed by brothers David and John Alexander, the latter having also been the proprietor of EPM, suggesting a certain amount of sibling rivalry between the pair.
EPM has more than 500 rental properties under management, and the tie-up comes just a week after DJ Alexander officially took over the 105-unit portfolio of Regimental Properties of Musselburgh, following the retirement of its owner, Peter Oliver.
The deals bring the number of properties under management by the DJ Alexander lettings business across its Edinburgh and Glasgow offices to just under 5,000. The Edinburgh portfolio is said to be valued at some £1 billion and accounts for just under 25 per cent of privately rented properties in the capital.
David Alexander said: “The merger between DJ Alexander Lettings and EPM seemed the sensible way forward as both companies operate to the same principles in a shared market while Regimental Properties presented an ideal opportunity to expand our operations within the Edinburgh area.”
Much of the letting firm’s expansion since its inception in 1982 has been through organic growth, but Alexander said the business was eyeing further takeover opportunities, particularly in Aberdeen but with other urban areas of Scotland under consideration.
“Substantial funding has been secured from private and institutional investors to drive forward an acquisition programme,” Alexander said. “However, we are not being seduced by the mantra that ‘bigger is better’.
“While extremely keen to grow the business both in our core areas and other parts of Scotland, we intend to remain focused on client service.”