Jones Lang LaSalle completes Kemper's acquisition

Property adviser Jones Lang La Salle said on Tuesday that it's German retail business Kemper's Jones Lang LaSalle Retail group is now the market leader in the country. JLL's takeover of Kemper's has received regulatory approval and the retail unit now has 220 employees in nine German locations.

Kemper's Jones Lang LaSalle Retail Group will operate in four business sectors: retail leasing, retail investment, retail management and retail advisory. The projected sales of the Kemper's Jones Lang LaSalle Retail organisation for the calendar year 2008 will amount to approximately EUR 56mln.

The acquisition of Kemper's brings the number of Jones Lang LaSalle employees in Germany to 750 and to 3,900 in Europe overall, with 500 focused in the retail sector. Gerhard Kemper, Rudiger Thrane und Jorg Ritter will form the group's executive board. Gerhard Kemper will also become a member of the Management Board of Jones Lang LaSalle Deutschland, which will then have four members.

Christian Ulbrich, CEO Jones Lang LaSalle Deutschland, commented: 'The acquisition of Kemper’s is a consequence of the globalisation and the increasing capital market orientation of the commercial real estate industry, taking the lead in another trend that necessarily results from the first: the accelerated consolidation of the realtor and consulting industry.

'Undoubtedly, global markets in the future will face an ever decreasing number of corporations that are constantly growing to be able to meet the high standards of an internationally active clientele of investors, developers and occupiers. International networking will become a basic requirement also and particularly in the retail sector, in which a manageable number of players dominate the market. This clientele has its own specific and very high standards and requires a multidimensional consulting competence at eye level, in brief: one-stop integrated services.'