GVA, the global property consultancy founded in Birmingham almost 200 years ago, has announced its preferred partner for a planned merger.
The agency said today it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the real estate arm of £7 billion-turnover engineering and services group Bilfinger to establish a new European property consultancy.
GVA said the merger, subject to outstanding legalities and a shareholder vote, would transform its drive for major growth and significantly strengthen its ambitions to compete on the world stage.
Exchange of contracts and completion of the deal is expected before the end of June 2014 and the transaction will involve a transfer of GVA's existing shares to give Bilfinger Real Estate 100 per cent ownership.
Bilfinger, which is based in Mannheim and listed on the stock exchange in Frankfurt, employs 74,000 staff throughout its 14 divisions worldwide.
The group is structured into four business segments - industrial, power, construction, and building and facility, the latter of which has annual turnover of circa €1.8 billion and 22,000 employees.
It houses the real estate division which employs circa 1,500 staff and has an annual turnover of £130 million.
Bilfinger Real Estate has already has operations in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, Poland, Canada and Australia and existing clients include RBS, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, AXA, Union Investment and IVG.
It has particular expertise in property and asset management and said it was committed to growing its transactional capability.
The decision by GVA to work with Bilfinger Real Estate as preferred partner follows the completion of a review by investment bank Canaccord Genuity which commenced in October.
Ian Stringer, regional senior director at GVA based in Birmingham, said: "The service we provide our clients will very much remain the same. There will be no change to our team structures or to our office locations.
"Our brand will evolve over a matter of years, not months. However, it's equally critical to convey that our partnering with Bilfinger Real Estate combined with LDC's exit will offer a very exciting opportunity for many clients and an unprecedented prospect for us to create a truly international dimension to our UK-facing business."
The transaction will allow LDC, the private equity investor with a 27.5 per cent stake in GVA, to exit.
LDC's initial investment supported the company through a financial restructuring programme to help GVA secure access to external capital to undertake large acquisitions.
GVA chief executive Rob Bould said: "This hugely exciting deal marks the most significant and transformational milestone in the history of our company. It represents a major opportunity for GVA's future growth and prosperity.
"The combination of the established GVA platform and reputation, and Bilfinger Real Estate's global reach and resources, creates a challenger brand in the European and global real estate market that is consultancy based. The creation of a new, leading brand also allows us to recruit and retain the best staff."
