Catella and S&P sever business partnership

Catella inked an agreement with S&P in March 2013 to give the UK broker access to its continental business centres, allowing Catella's clients a doorway to commmercial property opportunities in London and across the UK.

'In terms of formalities, the alliance will be terminated,' Jesper Bo Hansen, managing director of Catella Corporate Finance told PropertyEU.

'We have been well informed by S&P management on the strategic considerations over the last two years. Over the past years we have built strong personal relations between our groups and we will all benefit from this - also in the future,' he explained.

Earlier this week, Paris-based BNP Paribas Real Estate announced it has acquired Strutt & Parker, one of the UK’s largest independent property partnerships. The deal, which will be completed in September 2017, will merge the UK subsidiary of BNP Paribas Real Estate with Strutt & Parker, which currently numbers 60 offices across the UK.

When asked about Catella's current strategy, Bo Hansen said: 'As an important part of Catella's strategy we are focused on strengthening our access to global capital. We do have our own office in London – and with or without Brexit - we will certainly keep our position - and aim to grow this in the future. We will also be looking at opportunities to strengthen our position in other key financial markets such as Asia and the US.'

Would Catella look for a new partner in the UK? Bo Hansen replied: 'We are 100% focused on creating shareholder value and we are still looking for growth opportunties.'

He added: 'Over the last four years we have dedicated substantial resources in positioning Catella as the link between property and finance. Over this period we have doubled turnover, we have trebled assets under management and our share price has increased more than four times. Real estate is a people’s business and key thing for us is to have a strong brand and a successful company able to attract the best people in the industry.'