News this morning that Lloyds banking group is to sell Halifax estate agency for £1 to LSL Property Services. The agency, which is so unprofitable that Lloyds said its loss will make no difference to their balance sheets, brings LSL a rather heavy £22.5m of debt with it.
On the brighter side, it also brings another 218 branches and 1,060 staff (with probably around 400 of these are set to go).
Is it a good move for LSL? It's certainly a chance for them to pick up a massive further exposure to the market at a bargain price (if you can turn a blind eye to the debt) and presuming the market might pick up in 2010, LSL will be very well placed as the second largest estate agency network in the UK, after Countrywide. The danger lies if the recovery takes longer than anticipated, and presumes the next 18 months aren't shaken by any sort of unpredictable political/ financial/ economic calamity.
