Marsh & Parsons Limited / LSL Property Services

Marsh and Parsons, one of London’s leading and best known estate agencies has been sold to LSL Properties Services plc. The sale process, which was handled by Cavendish Corporate Finance LLP, resulted in a consideration of approximately £53 million. Marsh & Parsons, will continue to operate as an independent brand within the LSL Group.

Marsh & Parsons, which can trace its roots back to 1856, was acquired in 2005 by Sherry Fitzgerald Group, Dublin’s largest estate agency, and the management team, led by Peter Rollings. Since then the firm has grown to 15 offices across Central, South and West London. In the year ended 31 December 2010 revenues were £23.3 million and EBITDA £6.7 million.

In April 2011 Cavendish was appointed by the shareholders to sell Marsh & Parsons. It attracted strong interest from a wide range of buyers including private equity groups, high net worth individuals and both UK and international trade buyers identified by Cavendish and fellow alliance members of M&A International.

Key to the selection of LSL as the preferred bidder was its’ ability to offer a synthetic private equity structure. This gave the management team the independence and economic upside of a private equity deal while benefitting from the secure funding and long term commitment of a strategic buyer. This will enable Marsh & Parsons to continue its roll –out of an expanded branch network across Greater London and beyond in the years ahead.

Peter Gray, a Partner at Cavendish, led the transaction supported by fellow Partner Andrew Jeffs.

Michael Baulk, Chairman of Marsh & Parsons commenting on the result achieved by Cavendish:

‘We had tremendous support from the Cavendish team throughout the sale process. I believe we have been very well advised and that their perspectives and experience at the inevitably tricky moments were enormously valuable.’

“Thank you very much to the Cavendish team for all of your help and advice on this transaction. We are not sure how would have got to the end without you and you had an ability to find a mid-ground where both sides were happy – this certainly takes some skill.

Thank you for all of your hard work and we would not hesitate in recommending you and your services to anyone else.”

Martin Brown, Founder and majority shareholder of Wine-Searcher

“The Cavendish team, led by Lord Leigh of Hurley and Rebecca McCredie has done a fantastic job in managing the transaction with great skill. They were crucial in delivering this deal and its successful outcome – many thanks to the whole team.”

Johnny Goedhuis, Chairman of Goedhuis Waddesdon Limited

“In completing this transaction, we wanted to ensure that the growth and success of the business that we have built to date is the foundation for further expansion in the years to come. We are delighted with the outcome and we would like to thank the team at finnCap Cavendish for all of their help throughout this process. They are experts at advising founders and entrepreneurs and they provided us with invaluable advice and guidance throughout.”

Hugo Douglas-Pennant and Martyn Bell, co-founders of Bramblecrest

“We are delighted to be partnering with Rockpool. This transaction will enable us to accelerate our long-term growth objectives and help expand our international presence, especially in the US. Karri and Amy achieved a fantastic result for us and their ecommerce sector expertise, professionalism and unwavering dedication throughout the process were instrumental in achieving a successful completion.”

Nick Comer, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Rosetta Brands

“We are immensely grateful for the hard work and expertise we received from finnCap in securing this fundraise. Zuleika’s knowledge and communication skills were outstanding. It is the first time we have raised external funds so we were heavily reliant on their introductions, all of which were a good fit for Ro&Zo. Zuleika’s guidance through the process was exemplary. We are delighted to have chosen Pembroke as our new shareholders and look forward to a long relationship with them as we continue our growth strategy.”

Rachel Heather, CEO and Co-Founder, Ro&Zo

“On behalf of all of the shareholders at Peach, a huge thank you to the team at finnCap Cavendish – they have done a great job. With the unprecedented macro back-drop that we have all been experiencing, we needed an adviser who was thoughtful, tenacious and prepared to go the extra mile. We got of all this in spades from the finnCap Cavendish team and it has been a pleasure to work with them. We would not hesitate to recommend them to other business founders and entrepreneurs who are in need of experience-led judgement and advice.”

Hamish Stoddart, co-founder & CEO, Peach Pubs

“I would also like to thank the team at finnCap Cavendish. They have done a great job in finding us the right buyer and running a smart and efficient process. Their support throughout has been excellent and combined with their commercial approach and sector knowledge, they have made great advisers for us.”

Morgan Davies, Founder of Barburrito

“Joe Stelzer and his team at finnCap Cavendish were the perfect partners as we navigated this exciting next step for the group. The firm’s wealth of expertise in advising entrepreneurial growth businesses, partnered with their quality of service and professionalism was invaluable and helped make this deal function as smoothly as possible.”

Charles Barnett, Managing Director & Founder, Lyco Group

“This transaction is huge for our business as we look to continue our growth journey. We’re very excited to have raised enough capital from a leading impact investor to expand our market-leading position and maintain standards of excellence across all our products. We’re hugely grateful to the team at finnCap, who played a fundamental role, in what we hope, will be a very exciting growth story.”

Ben Wigley, CEO, Big Green Smile

“I would like to thank all of those involved in the process that has concluded with us ultimately choosing Neighborly as our partner going forward, those at finnCap Cavendish and our CFO Mike Bergin, without whom this would have not happened.”

Scott Mullins, President and CEO of Pimlico Plumbers