Countrywide was born out of the merger of Bairstow Eves and Mann & Co, the first two UK Stock Exchange listed estate agency groups, following their acquisition by Hambros plc. The new company, known as Hambro Countrywide plc, went on to establish Hambro Assured in 1988, making it the UK's biggest life company start-up and the first life assurance business to be wholly owned by an estate agency group.
Growth has been mainly through acquisitions, including the creation of the largest residential surveying and valuation business in the UK when the Group acquired Nationwide Estate Agents and Nationwide Surveyors from Nationwide Building Society in 1994. Between 1995 and 2004, the Group added further outlets to its growing network of estate agencies, including Spencers from National & Provincial Building Society; London firms, Faron Sutaria, PKL and John D Wood & Co.; the estate agency businesses of Friends Provident and Bradford & Bingley; and estate agents, Freeman Forman. The Bradford & Bingley acquisition led to Countrywide developing the largest specialist sales unit for land and new homes purchases.
In 1998, the Group's major shareholder, Hambros plc, de-merged and the shares passed into the hands of a number of institutional investors. The name was changed to Countrywide Assured Group plc with the life assurance subsidiary renamed Countrywide Assured.
In 2002, the Group signed a long term distribution agreement with Friends Provident, whereby all ABI regulated life products would be sold through their financial services sales force. As such, Countrywide Assured was put into run-off and, in May 2004, changed its name to Chesnara plc. It was de-merged from the Group and floated on the London Stock Exchange as a separate entity.
In 2007, Countrywide plc was acquired by the private equity group Apollo Management L.P., thereby taking the Group out of public ownership. A Scheme of Arrangement was implemented in May 2009 which restructured the Group's debt and equity and left it in a strong financial position. Following this restructuring, the principal investors in the Group are Oaktree Capital Management L.P., Apollo Management L.P., Polygon Global Opportunities Master Fund and Alchemy Special Opportunities Fund.
| 1986 | 1994 | 1995 | 1997/98 | 1998 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2007 | 2009 |
| Hambros plc acquires Bairstow Eves and Mann & Co to create Hambros Countrywide plc | Nationwide Estate Agents and Nationwide Surveyors acquired from Nationwide Building Society | Spencers Estate Agents acquired from National & Provincial Building Society | Faron Sutaria, PKL and John D Wood & Co. acquired | Hambros plc de-merged. Countrywide Assured Group plc created | Franchise venture started using the Bairstow Eves brand | Acqusition of Friends Provident Estate Agents and Surveyors | Freeman Forman and Bradford & Bingley Estate Agents and Surveyors acquired | Countrywide plc acquired by Apollo Management LP | Shareholder group extended to include Oaktree, Alchemy and Polygon |
