Full credit to Rob Bould: GVA has done exactly the deal it had to do and largely on its own terms too. It has been a long time coming.
More often than not you can judge the integrity of an organisation and the engagement of its staff by how well it can keep schtum. Here too GVA passed an important test. Senior directors may have been rehearsing their scripts over the weekend, with directors told on Monday and staff first thing Tuesday morning, but not a tweet was heard until news broke officially that lunchtime.
The £150m deal with £6.9bn German services giant Bilfinger means GVA has survived a turbulent market, a debt-for-equity swap and constant questioning about its future. It ensures backer Lloyds Development Capital exits happily and will make many of the firm’s 280 shareholders very comfortable indeed. It also, to significant internal satisfaction, values the business at 10 times earnings – more than the eight times multiple paid by JLL for King Sturge.
So with what came to be known as Project Wagner duly delivered all eyes now turn to DTZ.
Its parent UGL has whittled a 14-strong shortlist of private equity firms down to four, with final bids due yesterday (16 May). Chief executive Richard Leupen maintains there is more value in DTZ as a standalone business. If one of the bidders offers substantially more than £500m, however, that resolve will be tested.
Both GVA and DTZ have staged remarkable turnarounds – especially GVA, which traded through the crisis while others prepacked their way to security.
Now, for both, further M&A activity is on the cards. Bilfinger’s priorities lie in the US and Asia. Already wheels are turning. DTZ, whether independent or private equity-backed, will look west too.
There will be further corporate activity this year. And more and more of it will be driven by outsiders. It almost certainly means fewer firms, but wider choice for clients seeking end-to-end, global real estate advice. Property will never be the same again.
¦ If my last week is anything to by, politics has gone beyond merely casting a shadow over property conversations, it’s starting to drive them.
At an Estates Gazette reception in Edinburgh two weeks ago the Scottish independence referendum dominated discussions. At an EG dinner in London this week – more about which soon – it was concerns around immigration that occupied minds. (And, for the record, the mood in the room was very much that anti-immigration rhetoric was harming the UK’s ability to attract global talent.)
And at this week’s BCO Conference in Birmingham political pontificating was everywhere – from Scottish independence again to EU withdrawal, from the rise of UKIP to Boris Johnson’s prime ministerial ambitions and the future of the coalition.
Will politics remain as dominant as these very recent experiences suggest? Perhaps not. But it’s sure to matter more, and for a longer spell, than has been the case for many, many years.
¦ Full credit to you all, you mostly obedient lot. A pretty emphatic 90% of RICS members have met their obligations under the first year of across-the-board mandatory CPD (p36).
Of course, that means 10% haven’t. But you will get another chance. A final deadline will be set at next month’s AGM.
Many who haven’t fallen into line are cross about requirements that they see as an unfair imposition. Some of those who have complied feel the same way. But there’s no getting away from the obligation. RICS doesn’t want to impose penalties – much less the ultimate sanction, expulsion – but, if necessary, it will have to.
And ultimately it’s an issue that is bigger than RICS and bigger than this industry. Public confidence in politicians, journalists and the professions has plummeted and it is initiatives like CPD that will make inroads into the restoration of that fast-evaporating confidence.
Damian.Wild@estatesgazette.com
