The largest acquisition in The Agency’s history has come to fruition, with Devine Real Estate joining the national network.
Led by Steven Devine, and directors Fayez Yammine and Aaron Papadimatos, Devine Real Estate sold $250 million in property over the past 12 months across four hubs in Sydney’s Strathfield, Concord, Drummoyne and Marrickville/Dulwich Hill markets.
The entire sales and property management divisions of Devine Real Estate will move across to The Agency and the four offices will rebrand over the coming weeks.
The Agency Group Chief Executive Officer Geoff Lucas said bringing Devine Real Estate onboard had achieved the group’s long-held goal of expanding further into the key Inner West market in Sydney.
“It is the biggest acquisition yet in the company’s history,” Mr Lucas said.
“Steven Devine has been in the industry a long time and he has built a really reputable brand across all of those Inner West suburbs and we’ve been very keen to penetrate that Inner West Market.”
Mr Lucas said the Devine acquisition would build on the presence Shad Hassen had built in the Annandale area.
“Shad Hassen is strong in his particular market but we wanted a greater reach,” he said.
“When we started to talk with Steven that just seemed to be a good way to do it.
“His team just seemed to fit our ethos, our philosophies and that’s a critical thing, there needs to be a really strong cultural fit.”
Mr Lucas said The Agency had a carefully devised growth plan that involved targeting key markets where the network was yet to develop a presence before looking for “the right fit” in terms of property partners.
“The addition of Devine Real Estate supports our continued growth strategy to expand our geographical presence and sees The Agency increase in size to over 650 real estate professionals across the country,” he said.
“The number of properties managed by The Agency has climbed to above 8000 at an estimated value of $6 billion. MDC Trilogy Group owns 3,250 of these managements.”
There is already a blueprint to expand the new Devine offices even further.
“There are four offices there, and we see the opportunity for other people in that region to do the same thing and come and join us in the infrastructure that we’ve got,” Mr Lucas said.
Mr Devine said the stars had aligned for Devine Real Estate to come under The Agency network with personal connections and industry peers having already joined the brand in recent years.
“While our local offices will continue to be run by the same property experts we have today, we will now have the backing and added strength of a nationally recognised company,” he said.
Mr Devine said his family had worked in real estate in the Strathfield area since 1955, with his father then opening Strathfield Real Estate in 1965.
He bought the business from his father in 2000 and in 2004 rebranded as Devine Real Estate, before new offices followed in 2008, 2011 and 2017.
“I was looking at how to take it to the next level, to go bigger and it made sense to go with someone that was already national and that had the right ethos, the right people and the right culture,” Mr Devine said.
“The Agency was just a hands down, no-brainer, logical choice.”
Mr Devine said on a personal level, teaming up with The Agency would enable him to focus on listing and selling at a greater level.
“Running a business of this size and scale has diluted my ability to day-to-day, get out there to list and sell,” he said.
“I’ve never been off the tools but it will certainly be cathartic to be able to channel all of my energy into it rather than being pulled apart with the day-to-day running of a large organisation.”
Mr Devine said the response from the agency’s clients had been positive and the team members were excited to join a national brand.
He said the immediate goal was to continue to service their clients to the highest level, while growing the team was also on the cards.
Long-term, Mr Devine said he was looking forward to spending more time training agents in the industry.
In the meantime, he said joining The Agency meant the legacy he and his father have created continues on.
“I can look back and be happy and satisfied and rewarded that, yes, that was part of my legacy,” Mr Devine said.
“Alternatively I could have broken up the businesses and sold off the entities but that would have just been unpalatable.
“But as Geoff has said, this is a really good mix and it aligns with all of our goals and aspirations.”
The acquisition of Devine’s property management assets was undertaken by MDC Trilogy Group and is another step forward in the partnership announced in November 2022.
