Avison Young is hiring two directors from Savills’ retail team, as part of plans to build up its high street and shopping centre retail presence.
Dan Kent (pictured left), director of retail at Savills, is expected to join AY in November alongside colleague Rob Fraser (right), currently director of worldwide occupier services in Savills’ retail division. It is understood that a departure date from Savills has not yet been finalised.
Kent will join as a principal, while Fraser will be a director.
Kent, who has worked at Savills for 13 years, became a director there in 2006 after the firm acquired retail agency Blair Kirkman.
He specialises in advising retailers, landlords, investors, developers and food stores, and has experience in central London retail and shopping centre leasing projects.
In recent years, Kent has focused on advising large corporate clients on retail and distribution assets in the UK and worldwide. These have included Walgreens Boots Alliance, Asda Walmart, Yorkshire Building Society, EE, Game Retail and Morrisons.
Fraser has spent six years at Savills, having joined in 2013 from Strutt & Parker.
At Savills, Fraser focuses on in-town retail agency as well as occupier acquisition and disposal strategies.
Seeking retail growth
Miles Marten, principal of retail investment at Avison Young, said the agency’s out-of-town retail team was “incredibly strong” following the acquisition of Wilkinson Williams last year.
“We are looking to grow the other retail capacity to take advantage of the market and leverage off the things that [the legacy GVA business] does well, whether that is ratings, logistics or international business,” Marten added.
AY is planning to expand its operations with “quality shopping centre leasing, some investment capacity in the shopping centre and high street parts of the business, London retail leasing, and good capacity in the outlets market and across Europe”.
To achieve this, niche agency acquisitions have been identified as a possible route for expansion.
“The key is to gain a lean, quality team and to try avoiding the lower-margin work,” Marten said.
“Another agency acquisition could certainly be [a strategy], but we do not want to build a team with a lot of legacy leasing work that would not be profitable.”
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