Lomond Group, which has taken over some 65 mostly-smaller agencies in recent years, has been sold for £450m.

An announcement this afternoon that Lomond “has agreed a new partnership investment from ICG, a global alternative asset manager” appears to confirm the story reported by Sky News last week that a sale was to be agreed shortly.

This afternoon’s statement says: “The transaction will support Lomond’s continued growth strategy of further consolidation through M&A in its existing markets and provide additional capital to drive expansion into new regions.”

As a result of multiple acquisitions, Lomond has over 50,000 properties under management. Its brands include Brand Vaughan, Dale Eddison, DJ Alexander, Hardisty and Co., John Shepherd, Julian Wadden, Linley & Simpson, and Michael Jones & Co.

LDC, the private equity investor part of Lloyds Banking Group, was previously the largest investor in Lomond; that is no longer the case, although LDC will now reinvest in Lomond alongside new chief investor ICG.

Ed Phillips, chief executive at Lomond, comments: “We’ve had a superb journey so far with LDC. What we’ve achieved together is a testament to the hard work and passion of our people and I am delighted they will remain as a partner going forward.

“To have secured new investment from such a leading investor in ICG underlines the level of ambition of the team at Lomond and our new partner. We’re now looking forward to accelerating our growth in the coming years as we continue our journey as the best estate agency network in the UK.”

And Mark Piasecki – managing director at ICG – adds: “We were impressed by the growth journey of Lomond in recent years and are delighted to be its new partner alongside Ed, Stuart, LDC and the rest of the business.

“We see significant future value creation opportunity through further organic growth initiatives in its core regional markets, in addition to leading the consolidation drive in a highly fragmented market through what is a well-proven mergers and acquisitions platform. We look forward to working closely with Ed and the talented management team to fulfil Lomond’s significant potential.”

Commenting on the deal, Adam Walker, a long-established broker specialising in agency sales, says: “We have already had a record year for business sales and  just when we thought that M & A activity in the lettings sector couldn’t get any hotter, along comes  a new entrant to the market. This is bound to speed up the pace of mergers and acquisitions still further and I expect further announcements will follow soon. At a recent conference I said that the consolidation of the lettings sector will be all over in 10 years’ time and in view of this latest announcement the timescale is now likely to be shorter still.”