黑洞社区

Rival firms have said CBRE鈥檚 拢960m swoop for a 60% stake in T&T represents a good deal for the UK consultant 鈥� but warned it faces losing its independence in the coming years with some clients telling 黑洞社区 they feared its service will diminish as a result.

The US real estate giant yesterday announced it had bought a majority stake in the 75-year-old firm, valuing it at 拢1.6bn in a deal which T&T chief executive and chairman Vince Clancy said had been under discussion since the end of last year.

The move will herald a windfall for T&T鈥檚 106 partners, who all have different sized stakes in the business, but the 拢960m figure works out at an average of just over 拢9m per partner although one rival cautioned: 鈥淒on鈥檛 forget they鈥檒l have to take off liabilities.鈥�

A string of senior figures contacted by 黑洞社区 in the wake of the deal, described as 鈥渢ransformational鈥� by CBRE chief executive and president Bob Sulentic (see below), praised the amount of money T&T had managed to get CBRE to pay.

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鈥淏ig numbers,鈥� one rival said. 鈥淲ell done to them. Vince has done an incredible job developing that business.鈥�

CBRE, which last year posted revenues of $23.8bn (拢17.2bn), was described as a 鈥渕oney-making machine鈥� by one consultant who said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 an impressive deal and very well negotiated by T&T. CBRE have paid a nice premium.鈥�

One chief executive added: 鈥淭he pound versus the dollar makes the UK relatively cheap at the moment and, given that global property may slow a little due to the pressures of inflation, capacity and so on, gaining exposure to project and programme management opportunities will help them [CBRE] fuel their business.鈥�

Another chief executive added: 鈥淐ongratulations on a great deal. [But] can they [T&T] really maintain independent advisor claims and has it all got too big? They鈥檙e changing from a local business to a global mega beast.鈥�

He said he expected some T&T staff to jump ship in the coming months. 鈥淚t will be interesting to see how their employees respond.鈥�

One client admitted he was worried about the loss of personal relationships. 鈥淚t makes a difference to developers. Look at what happened to Davis Langdon and EC Harris once they were vacuumed up by the big corporates. Impersonal, generic service which does no more than what it says on the tin.鈥�

Clancy revealed yesterday the firm, which was originally set up in Darlington as Turner & Ing back in 1946, had rebuffed several offers from rival bidders, including private equity interest, over the years, having also had to pull the plug on a planned flotation several years ago because of the financial crash in 2007/08.

He said the firm will keep the T&T name but others suggested it would go the same way as the Davis Langdon marque after it was bought by Aecom more than a decade ago.

鈥淚 know the CBRE guys and the brand and excess fat will go,鈥� one boss said. 鈥淐BRE have the challenge of winning and promising the world but can鈥檛 source talent, hence M&A is the only route.鈥�

Another said: 鈥淭he odd thing is the percentage split. How that works in practice and how that effects behaviours, culture and performance will be interesting to see. When do CBRE buy the remaining 40% I wonder?鈥�

And one client admitted: 鈥淸The deal] is not really surprising in that CBRE will see this as helping them provide a one stop shop for both property transactions and project management and delivery, especially in EMEA.

鈥淚t will give T&T a much bigger platform to sell their wares but I doubt they will stay truly independent for long 鈥� my guess is three to five years maximum. The one stop shop model does not suit all clients as they like to keep roles separate but it probably gives T&T access to CBRE clients to support their drive for more 鈥榩rogramme management鈥� type roles and international repeat business.鈥�

The deal is due to wrap up in the final quarter of this year.