Two leading Japanese companies, Sumitomo Realty & Development and Kajima Construction’s American subsidiary are taking a stake in a major US commercial real estate agency.
The deal is part of a management buy-out of the Coldwell Banker Commercial Group; employees, with the Japanese and a group of US investors, have agreed the purchase with owner Sears, Roebuck. The US backers include the Carlyle Group; a Washington DC merchant bank. Sumitomo Bank and Bankers Trust are arranging the finance.
Coldwell Banker’s Bill Hinckley puts the price tag at some $300m (£176.5m). “The employees will own 50% of the group”, he says. There is also a stipulation in the sales document that limits participants to a maximum 50% holding in the group.
In 1988, Coldwell Banker’s gross revenues were some $460m. With a network of 100 offices and 5,000 staff nationwide across North America, the agency’s primary clients are commercial real estate investors, users and developers.
Sears, Roebuck announced that it wanted to sell the commercial side of Coldwell Banker last October as part of a corporate restructuring. It will continue to operate the residential side.
