Agnelli family sells Cushman & Wakefield
ITALY’S Agnelli family has agreed to sell real estate advisory giant Cushman & Wakefield to DTZ in a deal that values the US-based company at $2bn (£1.29bn) .
Exor, the investment arm of the Agnelli family, said the deal will create one of the world’s biggest real estate services companies with combined revenues of more than $5bn – leapfrogging ahead of JLL but still behind larger rival CBRE.
The combined firm will be run by Brett White, the former chief executive of CBRE, who was poached by DTZ last year after a consortium led by private-equity giants TPG bought the firm from its Australian owner UGL.
In a statement yesterday, White said: “DTZ is elated to be merging under the prominent Cushman & Wakefield brand. The companies have remarkably complementary skills and reach in different geographies – whether in New York, London or Shanghai, this will be a formidable combination.”
The Agnelli family, best known for their control of car maker Fiat, bought its 80 per cent stake in Cushman in 2007 and said it will have made a capital gain of $722m gain on their investment.