£300k growth fund investment backs My Property Box expansion

In November 2022 My Property Box secured a £300,000 investment from the North East Growth Capital Fund, giving it the means to act quickly when the right acquisition opportunities arose.

The money came via NEL Fund Managers, the regional firm that runs the fund, which is supported by the European Regional Development Fund. My Property Box earmarked the money for three purposes: consolidating its existing market position, enhancing its services, and pursuing further acquisitions.

By that point the group was ten years old and had completed nine acquisitions in four years, the most recent pair — Acorn Properties in Jesmond and South Shields agency KIS Lettings — having completed only weeks earlier. It offered a full end-to-end service covering sales, lettings, management and investment advice, employed more than 50 people and managed around 1,600 properties, with coverage taking in the whole of the North East plus Richmond and Catterick in North Yorkshire.

Ben Quaintrell said: "The business has evolved over the last decade, but we have always stayed true to the principles on which it was founded by utilising advanced digital technologies to deliver the best possible standards of customer service."

He made a telling point about where the group's deals come from: "We've been able to complete a significant number of acquisitions over the last few years that have come along at the right time in the right places for us, and it's pleasing that many of them have come from rival businesses approaching us about taking on their operations."

On the road ahead, he said: "In the short term, we're focusing on consolidation, but we're very much open to making more acquisitions in the future, especially in areas like Leeds, West Yorkshire and Cumbria where we're confident our business model would succeed."

Jane Siddle, senior investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, said: "Ben and his team have built a very successful business over the last decade and have the expertise, systems and resources in place it required to keep progressing, both within and outside the North East."

David Paget of Atlas Trade Finance made the introduction to NEL, while Stockton-on-Tees firm Atom Financial handled the financial due diligence on the deal.

As Ben noted at the time, many of our deals begin with an owner picking up the phone. If that is something you have been mulling over, we would be glad to hear from you.