Sherry FitzGerald, Ireland’s largest estate agency, has agreed to acquire commercial property group Knight Frank for an undisclosed sum.
The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, was announced on Wednesday by CastleGate, the family office of technology entrepreneur Tommy Kelly, which acquired Sherry FitzGerald in 2022 for a figure reported to be around €50 million.
The acquisition will see HT Meagher O’Reilly, which trades under the Knight Frank brand in Ireland, become part of the Sherry FitzGerald group, which includes its franchise operations and Northern Ireland property agency Simon Brien.
HT Meagher O’Reilly, which took over the Knight Frank brand in 2013, is co-owned by Declan O’Reilly and James Meagher.
CastleGate said the founding shareholders will remain in situ after the transaction, if the deal is approved by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
Mr Kelly said Knight Frank’s presence in commercial property would be “highly complementary” to Sherry FitzGerald’s share of residential.
“This agreement underscores CastleGate’s commitment to long-term growth by scaling and enhancing our property advisory services and capability,” he said.
Are plug-in hybrids just as polluting as petrol cars?
Mr Meagher, a director and co-founder of Knight Frank, said the partnership was a “natural evolution” of the business.
[ Sherry FitzGerald appoints Marian Finnegan as CEOOpens in new window ]
“We are proud of what we have built and excited to join a property advisory group of scale to deliver even greater value to our clients,” he said.
The most recent accounts for Tormh Ltd, an investment vehicle in which the co-owners hold their stake in HT Meagher O’Reilly, show the group generated turnover of more than €9.4 million in 2023.
The investment held by Mr O’Reilly and Mr Meagher in HT Meagher O’Reilly had a carrying value of just over €9 million in the year, according to the report of the directors attached to the filings.
However, they said the precise value of the company was difficult to establish “in light of current market conditions”.
In 2018, Sherry FitzGerald sold its remaining 80 per cent stake in its commercial property business to Cushman & Wakefield, effectively exiting that segment of the property market here.
Accounts filed last October by Sherry FitzGerald showed the group swung back into profit in 2023, making €1.3 million following a loss of €226,000 in 2022.
At the time, Mr McKenna said he expected profits to double in 2024 on the back of double-digit growth in its revenue.
Sherry FitzGerald sold 8,500 residential properties with a capital value of €4.5 billion in 2023, of which 1,400 were new homes. That equated to an average capital value of €529,412 per property.
The company had a 14 per cent share of the Irish residential market, which was in line with 2022. Mr McKenna described 2023 as “a pivotal year” for Sherry FitzGerald.