An open secret within the industry for several weeks, Jones Lang LaSalle’s acquisition of King Sturge was finally confirmed this morning.
The purchase price of £197m was within expectations and again as, predicted, was all in cash. Some £98m of that is up front, the rest paid out over five years. It’s a neat piece of business for the partnership.
But now the hard work really begins. Extracting nearly £200m of value out of the transaction will be a fiendishly difficult task. All agents can tell a horror story or two about a deal that looked great on paper but failed to work in practice. Integration of independent teams with competing vested interests and conflicting loyalties takes time and perseverance and will take all of Andrew Gould’s and Richard Batten’s management skills.
There will be casualties along the way and all week rivals have talked of being poised to pick up individuals and teams who don’t like the sound or moving from partnership to corporate.
Nevertheless the opportunity is immense.
To make a success of the transaction it’s important that all parties are consistent, transparent and sensible in their messaging.
Is that happening? Judge for yourself by this message to staff at 8am this morning: “Whilst King Sturge will adopt the name and branding of Jones Lang LaSalle, this is very much a coming together of equals.”
For a complete list of all EG’s JLL/KS coverage plus a timeline visit http://www.estatesgazette.com/jll-king-sturge-merger/
