Property adviser Cushman & Wakefield said it boosted its profit and revenue in 2013 on the back of strong investor demand as the global economic recovery accelerated.
Property adviser Cushman & Wakefield said it boosted its profit and revenue in 2013 on the back of strong investor demand as the global economic recovery accelerated.
The world’s largest privately held commercial real estate services firm reported adjusted net income up 60.4% at $46.2 mln (€33.5 mln) compared with $28.8 mln in 2012.
Gross revenue rose 21.9% to a record $2.5 bn, compared with $2 bn a year ago.
The company’s capital markets business lifted commission and service fee revenue by 22.7% on record global investment sales transaction volumes.
Notable assignments in Europe included advising Mitsubishi Estate Company on the sale of King Edward Court, the headquarters building of the London Stock Exchange, to Oxford Properties for £235 mln as well as Aberdeen Asset Management Deutschland on the sale of The Park, a complex of 12 office buildings in Prague, to an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, the largest investment deal in the Czech Republic ever.
Edward Forst, Cushman & Wakefield’s president and CEO, said: ‘As the pace of the global economic recovery accelerated in the second half of 2013, strong investor demand followed during the period. Robust capital flows across investor classes and improving fundamentals resulted in strong real estate returns and increased allocations to the sector. While we remain cautiously optimistic, we expect investor participation to grow meaningfully in the coming years, driven in part by the rapid growth of sovereign wealth fund assets and investment activity.’
Cushman & Wakefield is majority-owned by Exor, an investment company controlled by the Italian Agnelli family.