GVA Worldwide, the international arm of UK commercial property consultant GVA which was taken over by German engineering and services group Bilfinger last year, is seeking to expand across continental Europe as part of plans to become one of Europe's leading real estate brokers.

GVA Worldwide, the international arm of UK commercial property consultant GVA which was taken over by German engineering and services group Bilfinger last year, is seeking to expand across continental Europe as part of plans to become one of Europe's leading real estate brokers.

Speaking to PropertyEU in an interview, chairman Patrick Morrissey said the group is working on a number of new alliances in an effort to strengthen the business in several markets.

The company already has established affiliations in 21 countries worldwide, and has gained further exposure to markets such as Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Turkey and Poland through the Bilfinger Real Estate partnership that took effect in July of last year.

'We have recently expanded in France and in Greece and I hope that in the next few months we will also sign a new affiliation agreement elsewhere in Central Europe,' Morrissey noted. 'We'd also like to have a better position in Sweden and in the CEE region, particularly in Poland.'

The company announced at Mipim that it was joining forces with GLP Values in Greece while in February it signed an affiliation with commercial property advisor Keops for France.

'For many years we didn't have a strong affiliate in France and the partnership with Keops now provides us an excellent opportunity to cover the entire market with depth of knowledge and with the support of a financially-strong partner,' he said.

A subsidiary of property Group Nexity, Keops is a multidisciplinary property advisor covering the French market from its headquarters, established in Paris in the late 1980s, and a network of 19 offices located in all major French cities. It employs 160 people in total, with particular strengths in office, retail and industrial agency brokerage, tenant representation and valuation consultancy.

Until end-2014, Keops was an affiliate of Colliers International.

Headquartered in London, GVA Worldwide is part of Bilfinger Real Estate, a real estate advisory with €40 bn in assets under management. GVA is the majority shareholder in GVA Worldwide, a partnership of independent commercial real estate companies.

Commenting on the main priorities for the months ahead, Morrissey said that the group will continue to seek growth in capital markets, tenant representation and property management.

'These are our three pillars of growth. We have already boosted our position in capital markets with the hiring earlier this year of Chris Gore in the City of London and in Germany with Birgit Lenzen but we will look to expand our presence further in the German and UK investment markets.'

Both Gore and Lenzen have joined the group from Jones Lang LaSalle, where they were responsible for the investment business in London and in Frankfurt respectively.

In terms of tenant representation, the priority is to find a new partner in the US, where the recent acquisition by DTZ of Cassidy Turley has left the group unrepresented in the region, Morrissey added. 'We are currently in discussion with three partners to replace Cassidy Turley in the US. This is a priority for GVA Worldwide in 2015 because it is important for us to be able to follow our clients across the continent.'