Prominent Perth tenant advisory firm SwaleHynes Consulting, will be re-branded CB Richard Ellis Global Corporate Services, following the acquisition of the national GVA SwaleHynes group by the real estate giant today.
Prominent Perth tenant advisory firm SwaleHynes Consulting, will be re-branded CB Richard Ellis Global Corporate Services, following the acquisition of the national GVA SwaleHynes group by the real estate giant today.
GVA SwaleHynes was formed through a combination of real estate services firms GVA Grimley and the Perth-based SwaleHynes Consulting partnership of Chris Hynes and Digby Swale.
CB Richard Ellis Group Inc's existing Global Corporate Services Business will integrate with the GVA SwaleHynes group to create a team of 75 employees.
SwaleHynes Consulting director Chris Hynes said it would retain its office at 225 St Georges Terrace and did not believe the deal would threaten its operational independence.
The firm, established in 1990, is believed to control about 80 per cent of all corporate tenant representation work in Perth.
''We have had a number of acquisition approaches over the years, but the guarantee that we would operate autonomously was very important to us given our commitment to our corporate clients,'' Mr. Hynes said.
''CBRE agency buildings will be treated exactly the same as any other properties in the marketplace."
Mr Hynes said the firm would contact its clients shortly to discuss the integration.
CB Richard Ellis Australia and New Zealand operations chief executive Tom Southern said the business would provide a full suite of services to corporate occupiers, including strategic real estate planning and consultancy, transaction management, project execution, and corporate outsourcing services.
Mr Southern would not disclose the value of the deal, revealing only that the price was not fixed due to a series of performance-based payments.
Mr Hynes and Mr Swale will be among several senior members of the new team under GVA SwayleHynes' Peter Messenger as senior managing director
The full text of a company announcement is pasted below
CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. today announced the acquisition of GVA SwaleHynes in a move that establishes the Company as the number one corporate real estate services provider in the Pacific Region.
GVA SwaleHynes was formed through a combination of Australia's two leading corporate real estate services firms: GVA Grimley Pty Ltd and the Perth-based Swale Hynes Partnership.
CB Richard Ellis' existing Global Corporate Services business line will be integrated with the GVA SwaleHynes team. This will create a 75-employee business that is the premier corporate real estate services group in the Pacific Region.
Tom Southern, President and CEO of CB Richard Ellis' Australian & New Zealand operations, said "the focus will be to provide a full suite of services to corporate occupiers, including strategic real estate planning and consultancy, transaction management, project execution, and corporate outsourcing services.''
The business will be headed by GVA SwaleHynes's Peter Messenger as Senior Managing Director. Other senior members of the team will include GVA SwaleHynes's Melbourne Managing Director Stuart Allison, Swale Hynes Consulting founders Christopher Hynes and Digby Swale, and CBRE's Victoria Tavendale.
The acquisition will substantially strengthen the firm's corporate services offering when also considering the recent addition of the former Trammell Crow Company's corporate services team in Asia Pacific. ''It will be the No. 1 corporate services advisory firm in the Pacific Region by a wide margin,'' Mr. Southern said.
The combined entity will represent prestigious corporate clients such as Coca Cola Amatil, Cisco Systems, Inc., AGL, Optus, American Express Company, Toshiba and Deloitte.
Mr. Messenger said "the combined entity will be able to provide an unrivalled service offering to clients in Australia and New Zealand, given the quality of the staff and the combined resources of the three groups."
There will be full representation in all the major capital city markets including Perth, where Swale Hynes has built a dominant position executing approximately 80 percent of all corporate tenant representation work.
The new business will be run by an independent advisory board and Mr. Hynes said operational independence was paramount for existing and future clients of the new business. ''We have had a number of acquisition approaches over the years, but the guarantee that we would operate autonomously was very important to us given our commitment to our corporate clients,'' Mr. Hynes said. ''CBRE agency buildings will be treated exactly the same as any other properties in the marketplace."
Mr. Allison said the deal would provide GVA SwaleHynes with access to a broader client base, state-of-the-art IT systems and the world-class research derived from being part of the global market leader in commercial property services.
''The strength of the CBRE brand will also help in recruiting staff and substantially growing the business, while offering our existing staff enhanced career path opportunities,'' Mr Allison said.
The latest recognition of CBRE's strong global platform was provided by FORTUNE magazine, which last week ranked CBRE as the 33rd fast growing company in the United States based on a composite of three-year revenue, earnings per share growth and total return to shareholders.
The firm was the highest ranked commercial real estate services provider on the FORTUNE list and was the 10th fastest growing firm among FORTUNE's ''Giant'' companies - those large enough to be included in the FORTUNE 1000.
"As the highest-ranked commercial real estate services provider on FORTUNE's list of fastest-growing companies, CBRE continues to set the pace for the industry," Mr Southern said.
On a local level, Mr. Southern said the GVA SwaleHynes acquisition complemented the recent acquisition by CB Richard Ellis of pH Group (now CBRE Projects), a leading provider of project and construction management. It would also assist in the growth of firm's existing Structured Transaction and Advisory business, headed by Wayne Redman.
The transaction is the latest in a series of acquisitions for CB Richard Ellis in Australia and New Zealand.
