TOP BROKERS: German FM specialist moves up the food chain

Earlier this year, German engineering and services group Bilfinger announced its international business GVA Worldwide has extended its European reach by signing an affiliation agreement with French real estate adviser Keops.

The move follows the takeover of UK-based GVA earlier last year as part of Bilfinger Real Estate’s strategy to add complex real estate consulting and management services to its portfolio in the important UK market.

Following that takeover, which the German company described as ‘a merger of equals’, Bilfinger will increase the annual output volume of its building and facility business segment in the UK from €35 mln in 2013 to about €400 mln in the future.

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

The takeover of GVA fits in with Bilfinger’s aim of moving up the food chain, its real estate head Aydin Kamuradan told PropertyEU. ‘Our strength is that we offer the biggest property management platform, we are a quality leader with a 360 degree service. We are different to most other brokers, we don’t focus on one deal but on long-term relationships. Often there is a conflict of interest when a broker is involved in a transaction as well as a management instruction. We try to keep our clients for the long term. And if we are able to, we will do a deal.’

For more on the winners and losers in Europe's real estate advisory sector last year, read PropertyEU's Top Brokers special report in the March edition of PropertyEU's magazine

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