Just four months after forming a strategic partnership, French asset manager La Francaise and UK-based Forum Partners have acquired Cushman & Wakefield Investors (CWI), the investment management business of Cushman & Wakefield.
Just four months after forming a strategic partnership, French asset manager La Francaise and UK-based Forum Partners have acquired Cushman & Wakefield Investors (CWI), the investment management business of Cushman & Wakefield.
Under the deal, which was announced on Monday, La Francaise will own 66.6% of CWI while Forum will hold a 33.3% stake. The firm will operate under the brand La Française Forum Real Estate Partners. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.
The new combined platform will have total assets under management amounting to close to $20 bn (€14.8 bn), of which $14 bn are direct core European real estate investments.
The acquisition will enable La Française and Forum Partners to offer a complete range of pan-European real estate investment services to retail and institutional investors worldwide.
CWI executives David Rendall (CEO) and Jens Göttler (Managing Director), together with their current team, will continue to manage the business and investments. All existing service arrangements between Cushman & Wakefield and CWI will be transferred to LFF Real Estate Partners.
Patrick Rivière, managing director of La Française, described CWI as ‘a natural fit’.
‘As a real estate investment manager focused predominantly on France, we now possess a demonstrated and recognized pan-European direct real estate expertise. Investors, retail and institutional, will henceforth have access to an enriched investment offer covering real estate assets in the three primary European markets: France, Germany and the UK,’ he said.
Commenting on the sale, Carlo Sant’Albano, CEO of Cushman & Wakefield for EMEA, said it was not ‘the right time’ to invest in building out the CWI platform. ‘In the best interests of the existing CWI client base, we are pleased to have reached an agreement to sell the business to LFF Real Estate Partners which is looking to increase its European exposure and can provide CWI’s clients with access to a larger investment management entity and importantly, continuity of service.’
CWI has over $1.2 bn of assets under management from separate accounts and the PURetail Fund, in a joint venture with Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP).
PURetail is a closed-end pan-European real estate fund focused on urban retail assets. Existing local teams will remain in place and will continue to operate out of Paris, London and Frankfurt.
La Francaise teamed up with UK-based Forum Partners last September in a bid to strengthen its international presence.
A subsidiary of French bank Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe, La Française acquired a 25% stake in the property investment specialist.
Forum Partners is an independent global real estate investment management firm with €4.2 bn of capital committed and under advice. La Française has €6.7 bn of real estate assets under management.