MAPP will become an employee-owned company after its founder transferred shares into a trust.
Nigel Mapp, who set up the UK commercial property management consultancy 25 years ago, and executive chair David Clein have said they will transfer their shares into an employee ownership trust.
Mapp said: “One of our three core objectives is to be a great place to work… Empowering the MAPP team to take ownership of the business we have built together is a major milestone on our journey.”
The move will give MAPP’s 625 employees a direct stake in the business. EOTs are a government initiative, launched in 2014, aimed at promoting employee ownership. Other notable companies that have gone down this route include Mott MacDonald, Foster and Partners, and Arup.
MAPP currently manages around £25bn of commercial property throughout the UK for a variety of funds, REITs and other real estate investors and landlords.
Mapp and Clein said they had no intention of stepping back from the business following the handover, and will remain as chair and executive chair respectively.
In September they will be joined by new chief executive Louise Bonham.
Mapp added: “The MAPP EOT secures the long-term independence of the business by putting it in the hands of those who live and breathe our values and are the architects and stewards of our reputation. This is a natural progression for the company as we celebrate 25 years of MAPP and, combined with the appointment of Louise, means we are now looking ahead to the next 25 and the growth of the MAPP Charitable Foundation.”
The MAPP EOT will continue to channel a growing proportion of its profits to the MAPP Charitable Foundation, a grant-making registered charity focusing on young people, mental health and environmental initiatives nationwide.
MAPP manages around 1,000 buildings valued at £25bn and has doubled in size since the start of the pandemic.
In July 2021, MAPP became the first real estate consultancy business to become a certified B Corp, and is still the largest. Last year, Newsweek voted it the 30th “most loved place to work in the UK”.
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