Foxtons' backer makes second stab at gaining control . . .

Foxtons is set to be acquired for a second time by the US private equity firm that bought it for £360m at the height of the market.

This time, BC Partners is close to taking back control of Foxtons in a deal that values it at between £225m and £250m.

First time around, BC Partners bought Foxtons – which then had 19 branches in London –  from founder Jon Hunt in 2007. The property market collapsed not long after and, with BC Partners admitting it had made a mistake, Foxtons’ ownership had to be restructured, with control handed over to the banks in 2010.

The two banks, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Japanese bank Mizuho, swapped their loans for a combined 55% stake, leaving BC Partners with a 30% share.

But over the last few days, BC Partners has bought Bank of America’s stake and is now poised to acquire Mizuho’s shares.

The deal will mean that the management team, led by chief executive Michael Brown, keeps a 15% stake in the business.

In its last published accounts, for 2010, Foxtons made a record £35.4m profit. The firm has also been steadily expanding, adding ten more branches since 2010.

This month, it opened new offices in London Bridge and, just this weekend, in Crouch End. The firm currently has 32 branches in London and two in Surrey, and in February was named as the UK’s fastest-growing UK estate agency in the Sunday Times Deloitte Buyout Track 100 league table.

Foxtons’ sister company is mortgage broker firm Alexander Hall, which is also part of the BC Partners package.