Real estate agent industry turmoil continues
The mooted departure of McGrath agent Bethwyn Richards to The Agency is expected to be formally announced today.
Specialising in Sydney’s beachside suburbs from Bondi to Coogee, Bethwyn Richards, who has a who's who client list, had some loose ends to tidy up which meant her much delayed exist.
She takes with her a client book built up over the decades that includes Deb Hutton, Anthony Bell, Peter Overton and Jessica Rowe, Mark Carnegie, cricketers Shane Watson and David Warner and the former Swans coach, Paul Roos.
One of her recent sales was when the Footy Show's Erin Molan bought.
One of her most celebrated sales was the Bronte home of the late Heath Ledger. She sold the Bayview Street home overlooking the beach for $7 million after it traded for $4.45 million just two years before.
With the backing of mortgage broker John Kolenda, and Ausnet Financial Services, she joins other veteran McGrath agents who've launch as The Agency including Matt Lahood and Ben Collier.
The McGrath rebels teamed together last month selling their combined near 15 per cent stake for 65¢ a share to institutional investors.
Bethwyn Richards joined the sell-off.
The group, which was headed by the former chief operating officer Geoff Lucas who had a 4.3 per cent stake, had hoped their block trade would attract a premium offering, but instead settled for deal struck at a discount below the 73 cent closing price.
The sale was less than one-third of the $2.10 a share the company was floated at in December 2015. Stock worth $42.8 million at the time of the float changed hands at $13.2 million.
The block was held by well-known agents including Ben Collier, Shad Hassen, Matt Lahood and Brad Gillespie, former McGrath agents who now work for The Agency.
The escrow condition had prevented the former McGrath insiders from offloading their shares since it listed in December 2015 at $2.10 a share.
This article was first published in the Sunday Telegraph.