Dublin-headquartered property adviser DTZ Sherry FitzGerald has adopted the Cushman & Wakefield branding, ending months of uncertainty about who was to be C&W's exclusive affiliate in the Republic of Ireland.
The rebranding and formal affiliate appointment, which took effect on 31 August, follows the May 2015 global merger of the Cushman & Wakefield and DTZ groups.
Sherry FitzGerald had been DTZ's Irish partner since 1998, with DTZ holding a 20% stake in the Irish company. At the time of the global C&W and DTZ merger, Cushman & Wakefield had a looser co-operation with Lisney, another Irish property adviser. It was not clear after the merger how the relationships between the various parties would be affected.
Announcing the rebranding of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald as Cushman & Wakefield Ireland on Wednesday, C&W said the partnership brought together C&W's global platform and 'Sherry FitzGerald's deep expertise across Ireland's commercial property market.'
Aidan Gavin, managing director of Cushman & Wakefield Ireland, described the move as a 'very significant watershed' for the business. 'This is more than a rebranding exercise, it gives us access to many new services and opportunities driven by the scale of the merged Cushman & Wakefield business.'
'Being the Irish arm of one of the top three global firms gives us access to many more occupier enquiries, finance, market intelligence, research and experts, than ever before. One of our new service areas, is the substantial debt advisory services which Cushman & Wakefield offers, this is a new offering for us that is now an integral part of every property transaction,' Gavin said.
Top 3 global real estate services firm
Cushman & Wakefield is a top three global real estate services firm, along with CBRE and JLL. The C&W group has 43,000 employees in more than 60 countries, with recorded revenue of over $5 bn (€4.5 bn), 399 million m2 under management and $191 bn in global transactions. In the UK, Cushman & Wakefield, headquartered in London, has 2,000 employees and offices in all the key UK cities.
The Sherry FitzGerald business has 650 employees in 97 offices and a presence in every county in Ireland. The newly branded Cushman & Wakefield has a 100-strong team working out of offices in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway.
Ireland is not the only market where the merger between C&W and DTZ has been less than seamless. The majority of the partners of DTZ Zadelhoff, the Dutch arm of the DTZ Group, declined to merge with Cushman & Wakefield in May 2015. Months of negotiations ended in January 2016 without having reached a compromise, apart from that both sides would continue to operate separate offices in the Netherlands.
Some 75% of DTZ Zadelhoff is owned by partners with the remaining 25% held by the former DTZ Group (now part of Cushman & Wakefield). A portion of Cushman & Wakefield's holdings comprise the interests acquired from DTZ Zadelhoff founder, Cor van Zadelhoff, who was not part of the group of partners who objected to the merger conditions.
In China, DTZ was regarded as a strong brand name and the combined business there operates as DTZ Cushman & Wakefield.
