MBH Corporation agrees acquisitions to lay foundations for new US property arm

MBH Corporation Plc (FRA:M8H) has laid the foundations for a new property division in the US with a pair of acquisitions that take the group’s tally to seven so far this year.  The Frankfurt-listed group has snapped up 100% of Meeting of the Minds (MOTM) and Everyday Realty Services, both headed by chief executive officer Melissa J. Shea. READ: MBH Corporation hails taxi firm as fifth acquisition of the year MBH has agreed to pay a total estimated at US$2.9mln-US$3.5mln, mostly made up of unlisted bonds that are designed to convert to its listed bonds upon completion of audited accounts. Established 12 years ago, MOTM is a real estate investor association and investor mentoring programme in New York, while Everyday Realty is a real estate brokerage and commercial funding company, trading under the Exit Realty franchise and Everyday Funding brands. Together the two businesses generated US$1.2mln of revenue last year and an underlying profit of US$0.63mln. Everyday Realty, a spin-off from MOTM which generates income from commissions, short sale negotiation fees, points from lending and fees, is also in the process of purchasing a franchise, Brokerage Exit Realty, which they expect to grow from five producing agents to more than 50. “These two companies are strongly established in their fields and represent exciting growth businesses in the highly competitive US real estate market,” said MBH CEO Callum Laing in a statement.  “We look forward to working with Melissa and her team who are very aligned with the MBH values of trust, collaboration and velocity. We certainly embrace their ambition to grow through acquisition in this pivotal moment in the economy and they have an exciting pipeline already identified.” Shea added: “The opportunity to join MBH as their first US companies is hugely exciting for us and I am also looking forward to heading up the new property vertical for the group.” MBH's acquisitions are part of what Laing calls an ‘agglomeration’ strategy, where companies join the group and convert their private shares into public shares in MBH and the owners are incentivised to accelerate their growth trajectory using the resources of the PLC, including sharing expertise, best practices, cross-selling and sometimes zero-cost funding for new growth projects. Alongside Wednesday's acquisitions, the Singapore-headquartered group also announced that Stan Patey, a veteran M&A advisor, corporate strategist and “mentor to many CEOs within the City”, has been appointed as a non-executive director to the group board.