One of Birmingham's oldest property companies has joined forces with a rival to create the region’s biggest independent agency.
Bimingham-based Bigwood, which can trace its history in the city back 160 years, has merged with Curry & Partners to create CP Bigwood. The new firm will enjoy revenues of £8 million and employ 125 staff.
Curry & Partners was established in 1994 as a firm of chartered surveyors and property management consultants and the business is now responsible for managing more than £1 billion worth of clients’ property assets throughout the UK.
The new business will have more than £2.5 billion worth of property under management, with major new instructions pending.
Bigwood managing director Rory Daly said it was Curry’s strength in property management which was one of the driving forces behind the deal.
Mr Daly said: “Commercial property is like an iceberg.
“The auctions and agency side is the more visible but by far the biggest part of the structure is property management which is not visible to the general business community.
“We have been talking to Curry & Partners’ founders Pauland Nigel Curry for some time now as we recognised there were significant synergies and a greater market share to be achieved through a merger of two such compatible businesses.”
Curry & Partners rebranded and expanded in its headquarters in Summer Row, Birmingham, in April 2010, taking an extra 4,000 sq ft of space.
Nigel Curry, who will be joint managing director of CP Bigwood with Mr Daly, said he was confident that clients of both firms would appreciate the enhanced service that the new, larger firm would be able to offer.
He said: “We recognised that Bigwood had been extremely successful in raising its profile in the past five years and we felt that we had somewhat reached a glass ceiling both size-wise and marketing-wise.
“The merger will enable the combined group to invest heavily in people and technology to service the increasing demands of clients and compete with national firms on big ticket instructions.
“Our vision when we sat down with Rory Daly was to create one of the largest regional independent property management, agency and auctions businesses and in CP Bigwood we have succeeded.”
As well as property management and auctions, CP Bigwood provides the full range of professional services including commercial and residential agency, lettings, valuations, surveying, building and development consultancy and town planning.
Susheel Gupta, corporate partner at Higgs & Sons, provided the legal and structuring advice to CP Bigwood.
He said: “CP Bigwood brings together two strong management teams who can now provide the full spectrum of property services to their growing client base.”
The name Bigwood has been part of the world of property throughout the Midlands since 1845 with Edwards Son & Bigwood, Edwards Bigwood & Bewlay and Colliers Bigwood & Bewlay are names well know to property owners and professionals alike.
It is from this established family tree that the business has grown and now includes the practices of Leeson Son & Hackett, Cecil Cariss & Son, Robert Martin Associates, Thomas Pinson & Sons, Smith Balla, and Peter Checkley & Co, all of which have become part of Bigwood Chartered Surveyors.
