CBRE has completed its $900m (£565m) purchase of ING Real Estate Investment Management.
The property services firm last night finalised the third stage of the acquisition of ING Group’s real estate investment management arm in Europe. The deal includes the ING Real Estate Select global fund of funds business for $540m.
The deal creates the world’s largest property fund manager with $94.8bn of assets under management. It will operate as CBRE Global Investors and be headquartered in Los Angeles.
CBRE’s acquisition of most of ING REIM was agreed in February, after parent company ING Group decided to sell the business as it separated its banking and insurances arms.
As part of the deal, CBRE also bought Clarion Real Estate Securities, the US-based manager of listed real estate securities.
“We have completed the most transformative transaction in our industry since the purchase of Trammell Crow in 2006,” said Brett White, chief executive of CBRE. “Our expanded investment management business will enhance our service offerings for institutional investors in commercial real estate, and provide us with another source of stable revenue.”
CBRE Global Investors has more than 1,100 employees in 21 countries. It is led by global president Matt Khourie. Pieter Hendrikse has been appointed CEO of the EMEA operation, Richard Price has been named CEO of Asia Pacific, Ritson Ferguson CEO of the global securities business and Jeremy Plummer CEO of the global multi-manager business.
The total purchase price for the three ING businesses is $900m. Over the next several months CBRE will also acquire up to $75m of real estate co-investments managed by ING REIM in Europe. This is in addition to co-investments of $75m acquired as part of the ING REIM Asia and ING Clarion Real Estate Securities transactions.
CBRE also expects to incur $150m of financing, integration and retention costs. It financed the acquisition with a combination of cash and borrowings under its secured credit facility, including $800m of bank debt raised in March.
bridget.oconnell@estatesgazette.com
