CBRE-owned TCC expands into UK office market with Candour purchase

CBRE’s real estate development business Trammell Crow Company (TCC) has expanded in the UK with the acquisition of London-based office developer Candour for an undisclosed amount.

As part of the deal, Candour’s founders Toby Pentecost and Dan Rees will join TCC as senior vice-presidents and co-heads of UK offices.

The deal gives TCC ownership of Candour’s 850,000sqft of commercial projects under construction or in the pipeline, including the Welcome Building in Bristol, 39 Deansgate in Manchester city centre, and the repositioning of two London office assets.

CBRE-owned TCC is the largest real estate developer in the US and has an industrial and logistics development footprint across multiple European markets, making it a global commercial real estate developer with $15.4bn (€14.6bn) of projects in process and $14.5bn in its pipeline.

In 2019, TCC entered the UK build-to-rent sector with the acquisition of Telford Homes for £267m. At the time, CBRE said the acquisition positions TCC to “opportunistically expand” its development platform over time in the UK and Europe. The acquisition of Candour broadens TCC’s capabilities into the UK office market.

David Neuman, president for Europe at TCC, said: “UK office sector fundamentals remain attractive, particularly for well-conceived, newly-developed, ESG-focused properties. With Dan and Toby leading our efforts, we are well positioned to make an immediate impact in the sector.”

Pentecost said: “We are excited to be accelerating our growth and expansion with TCC. Together we will have the capacity to create even more prime, sustainable developments that inspire the world of work and that will allow us to continue to serve our occupiers and capital partners and provide positive returns for all our stakeholders.

“The opportunity to help lead the largest US developer’s expansion into the European offices marketplace for the first time is a tremendous endorsement of what we have created with Candour.”

Rees said: “Becoming part of TCC’s European growth story at this opportunistic time in the market is an exciting way to begin the next chapter as we continue our upward trajectory. We are hugely grateful to our capital partners for their continued support along the way.”

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