Leeds Firm BTG Eddisons Buys Rival in Growth Push

The Leeds-headquartered firm has acquired Milton Keynes asset manager Hornbeam, taking its workforce past 560 as it continues to expand nationally

Leeds-headquartered property consultancy BTG Eddisons has made another acquisition as it pushes on with national growth. The firm, one of the UK’s fastest-growing real estate advisers, has bought Hornbeam, a Milton Keynes-based commercial property and asset management consultancy, in a deal that expands its presence in the South East. The purchase takes BTG Eddisons past 560 staff across 35 UK offices. Financial terms were not disclosed. It is the latest step in a buy-and-build strategy run from the firm’s base in the heart of Leeds.

Why This Matters For Leeds

A growing Leeds firm on the acquisition trail is a good sign for the professional-services base. BTG Eddisons is expanding its national reach while keeping its headquarters and senior decision-making in Leeds, which anchors jobs and expertise in the city even as it grows elsewhere. Deals like this also reflect a wider trend of consolidation in property advisory, where scale and specialist expertise increasingly go together, and shows a local business confident enough to keep buying.

What BTG Eddisons Has Acquired

Hornbeam, founded by directors Sophie Hart and Stuart Lucas, advises institutional and fund clients across the UK, giving it a specialist institutional asset management capability that the buyer says strengthens its national offer. Its team and clients join the larger firm, with the deal aimed at broadening the range of property and advisory services available to customers. The acquisition extends the buyer’s reach in the South East, adding to a network that now spans 35 offices. It fits a pattern of steady expansion: the firm, part of the Begbies Traynor Group, has grown quickly through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions to become one of the larger property advisory businesses in the country, spanning agency, auctions, valuations, management and development.

“Hornbeam’s reputation with institutional and fund clients is exactly the calibre of relationship we want to build on, and this acquisition significantly strengthens our asset management offering nationwide.”

— Anthony Spencer, Managing Director, BTG Eddisons

Growth From a Leeds Base

The deal is a modest one, but it is part of a bigger growth story run from Wellington Place in Leeds. The company has built itself into a national player through a run of acquisitions and its continued appetite to buy reflects a property advisory market in which firms are bulking up to offer clients a fuller range of services under one roof. Co-owner Sophie Hart said joining the group would let Hornbeam develop its standards on a national basis while maintaining continuity for its clients. It echoes the buy-and-build activity Leeds Today has reported elsewhere in the city’s professional services, and while this particular deal grows the business in the South East, the value and the jobs it creates are directed from Leeds; a home-grown consultancy expanding nationally is a welcome sign.