Australian listed property services firm UGL has completed the acquisition of London-based broker DTZ for £77.5 mln (EUR 90 mln). The acquisition was fully funded with debt, plus an adjustment for cash.
Australian listed property services firm UGL has completed the acquisition of London-based broker DTZ for £77.5 mln (EUR 90 mln). The acquisition was fully funded with debt, plus an adjustment for cash.
The combination of DTZ and Sydney-based UGL creates one of the world's largest real estate services operations, with combined revenues of £1.2 bn. The combine claims to be the third largest player in the real estate services industry globally, after CBRE and JLL and ahead of Cushman & Wakefield with 225 offices in 45 countries.
'We see significant opportunities for growth in Asia, particularly in China, where DTZ holds the leading market position in property services with 1,300 personnel in 18 cities,' said UGL's managing director and CEO, Richard Leupen. 'The global trend to outsourcing is continuing and our clients are increasingly demanding an integrated end-to-end service offering which can be delivered by a single solutions provider across their entire global property portfolio.'
DTZ first announced on 8 November that it had selected UGL as its preferred bidder in an open bidding process launched following the collapse of negotiations with its majority shareholder St. George Participations and French real estate group BNP Paribas. DTZ has debt of £106 mln and cash reserves of £42 mln. Around £28 mln of debt matures next year.
UGL, which is also active in Asia, North America and the Middle East but not in Europe, was required to make a firm offer for DTZ by tomorrow. In a statement on Monday, DTZ said the transaction realises no value for the ordinary shares of the Holding, which was placed into administration immediately prior to the acquisition by UGL.
'The key strategic benefit would be the bringing together of DTZ's business scale in Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific with UGL's end-to-end corporate real estate and facilities management services to corporations, governments and institutions in Australia, New Zealand, North America and the Middle East,' DTZ commented on the operation earlier this month.
Goldman Sachs acted as exclusive financial adviser to UGL on the acquisition.
