The deal

Our Corporate Finance team has successfully advised butters john bee (bjb), the leading estate agency in the midlands and the North West, on the sale of the business to Spicerhaart.

Originally founded in 1856, bjb now operates 19 branches across Staffordshire, Cheshire, Shropshire and the West Midlands, and is one of Britain’s most highly regarded property businesses – winning multiple awards including ‘best regional agency group’ at the 2017 industry ESTAS awards.

Household name Spicerhaart was founded in 1989 by Paul Smith and his father Alick, and over the years has grown steadily both organically and through acquisition. The business now consists of several estate agency brands including haart, Darlows, Haybrook, Felicity J Lord and Chewton Rose.

Both firms offer similar services, providing residential sales, lettings, conveyancing, surveying and financial services, while butters john bee also auctions residential properties and sells, lets and manages commercial property. Spicerhaart also offers corporate sales through its Blackpool office and has a land and new homes division. bjb is an ideal addition to the Spicerhaart family and will expand their presence in the Midlands and North West.

The team acted as lead adviser, completing a thorough marketing and sales process which attracted offers from multiple acquirers with Spicerhaart being chosen as the preferred partner. James Beardmore, Managing Director at butters john bee said, “This is a very exciting time for us as it means we will be able to offer additional services to our customers and more career development opportunities, training and rewards to our 200 staff”.

Paul Smith, Spicerhaart’s Chief Executive and owner said, “butters john bee is an extremely well-run estate agency business and we are delighted to welcome the bjb team into our family. Both firms are award-winning and we will be sharing best practice across both organisations.”

“Clive and Bilal have been working with us to position the business to be part of a bigger group. Both of them supported us superbly throughout and laid the foundation for a successful outcome, offering professional and pragmatic advice and when issues arose, tackling them with an impressive blend of tact, toughness and lateral thinking. Most people only make this life changing decision once and we did well in choosing us!” Ian Cheetham, Executive Director and owner of Butters John Bee.