LSL Property Services has sold its stake in conveyancing panel provider LMS for £12m in cash, as the group pursues its “financial services led growth strategy”.
The group sold its 49.6% holding in the unit to private equity outfit ONP Group, which consists of O’Neill Patient Solicitors, Cavendish Legal Group, Grindeys Conveyancing and Conveyancing Alliance.
LSL says: “The sale simplifies the group structure, providing further capital for deployment into opportunities to accelerate the group’s growth strategy, in particular financial services.”
The property group adds that its share of LMS profit after tax was £300,000 last year.
London-listed LSL owns a string of UK property brands such as the Primis mortgage network, e.surv Chartered Surveyors and Marsh & Parsons estate agents.
LMS chief executive Nick Chadbourne says: “This investment from ONP Group represents a real vote of confidence in our ambitions to continue to lead and advance the market as an independent provider of conveyancing panel management services.
“ONP Group share our belief that technological innovation will provide the means to speed up and simplify conveyancing, and today’s news provides a real validation for the LMS team’s hard work and dedication to evolving this business in recent years.”
Chadbourne adds: “In buying LSL’s 50 per cent stake in LMS, we have a new dynamic to the shareholder mix with exciting times ahead. The whole team are looking forward to working with our new 50/50 joint venture partner alongside long-time shareholder, Connells Group.”
Last month, LSL partnered with private equity investor Pollen Street Capital in a £200m joint venture to create a new mortgage and protection broker, named Pivotal Growth Limited.
The venture will see cash made available to fund acquisitions with a view to ‘buy and build’, with LSL committing up to £33.5m and up to PSC £62.4m, the rest being made up of external debt finance. The venture has an exit timeline of three to six years.
LSL says that over 50 large businesses have been identified as potential buys and that after focussing on these it will target smaller firms.
It also said that LSL chairman Simon Embley had been appointed chief executive and deputy chair and senior independent director Bill Shannon will become chair of the LSL board and the nominations committee.
Meanwhile, LSL chief executive officer David Stewart and PSC partner Ian Gascoigne were named Pivotal Growth directors while LSL director of mortgage services David Copland took on the strategy and business development director role.
