Property consultants Vail Williams LLP have announced the acquisition of national property advisers Trilogie CRE (Trilogie) adding a 10-strong team and over £1.5m in revenues.
The deal follows on from Vail Williams’ recent financial results which reported a 17% increase in revenues to £16.3m for 2018-19, representing the culmination of a three-year business plan which saw the firm grow income by 28%.
Trilogie will bring an additional £1.5m in turnover to Vail Williams which now targets revenues of £21m over the course of its 2019-2021 business plan instigated by Managing Partner, Matthew Samuel-Camps.
Samuel-Camps said: “Two months into our new business plan, we remain well placed to continue our sustainable growth trail and the acquisition of Trilogie represents a positive next step in that process. The firm is an excellent fit for Vail Williams in terms of both culture and service offering, where it will complement our existing services.”
Trilogie will supplement Vail Williams’ full-service property advisory offering, adding to the firm’s existing occupier and building consultancy expertise, whilst bringing additional project management capabilities.
Headquartered in London, Trilogie acts for clients across the UK, with a particular concentration of clients in the north of England. Specialists in occupier advice, they count the likes of Alumasc plc, Saica, Addison Lee, Thermofisher, Balfour Beatty and Kerry Foods amongst their client base.
The firm employs a 10-strong team all of whom will take up equivalent roles at Vail Williams creating a combined team in London of over 30 people.
Nicola Mottershaw, Jeremy Firth, Roland Browning and Keith Shaw will all join Vail Williams as partners, which together with the rest of the Trilogie team, will bring total staff numbers across Vail Williams’ offices to over 175.
Samuel-Camps continued: “By investing in our business through this latest acquisition, our clients can be assured of our continued full-service offering and the depth of expertise we bring to help them navigate these continued uncertain times, all the while helping them to grasp the opportunities available to them.”
Vail Williams acts for landlords, occupiers, investors and developers nationally, where clients include First Group, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, the Canal & River Trust, Slough Borough Council, Molson Coors and National Express.
As part of the firm’s growth strategy it has acquired or merged with four businesses in the last three years, including business rates specialists Bisset Moffatt Hill (2016), the general rating division of Ruddle Merz (2017), Solent-based Hughes Ellard and Surrey advisers, New Ballerino (2018).
Following its merger with Hughes Ellard Vail Williams became the market-leading providers of property advice in the Solent, doubling its team there from 25 to just under 50 people.
And less than a year on from its acquisition of New Ballerino it has secured an agency instruction base totalling 500,000 sq ft – the second largest in Surrey.
Nicola Mottershaw, joint managing director at Trilogie, commented: “Having witnessed Vail Williams’ continued growth it was clear to us that, as we sought to grow our own service lines, they represented the perfect fit – a firm with ambition, an enviable reputation in the market and with values akin to our own.
“Our move to Vail Williams is great news for Trilogie clients who will benefit from the broader range of services on offer, and we look forward to working with our new colleagues.”
Jeremy Firth, fellow joint managing director at Trilogie, concluded: “Our determination to add value for our clients, coupled with a shared approach to collaboration, provide exceptional client service, investment in staff development and CSR, makes us perfectly aligned and will ensure that the move to Vail Williams is as seamless as possible – both for our clients and our people.”
The deal completed on 30th August.
Vail Williams is recognised as one of the Best Places to Work in Property by Property Week (2017), and holder of the Silver accreditation from Investors in People. The firm has 8 offices in London, Reading, Heathrow, Crawley, Woking, Southampton, Portsmouth and Birmingham.
