DTZ SEA's operations still independently run
Merger between Cushman & Wakefield and DTZ worldwide completed and the new entity largely retains Cushman's name
Singapore
DTZ Debenham Tie Leung (SEA), which is still slightly over 30 per cent held mostly by its original founders, continues to operate independently even as the merger between Cushman & Wakefield and DTZ worldwide has been completed.
BT understands that talks between the DTZ SEA founders to sell their stake to the TPG-led consortium have long been underway but remain inconclusive.
The day-to-day operations of DTZ SEA's offices in Singapore and overseas continue to be run by its management, said its CEO Ong Choon Fah, one of the 14 executive directors with equity stake, who declined to comment on discussions with the TPG consortium when contacted by BT.
DTZ owns slightly less than 70 per cent of DTZ SEA, whose businesses span across brokerage, valuation, consultancy and research, property management, and hospitality management under which it operates the luxurious 220-apartment Treetops Executive Residences in Singapore's Orchard Road belt.
Cushman & Wakefield had on Wednesday announced the successful completion of the merger with DTZ - with the merged entity retaining Cushman's name except in China and the Netherlands, where it is DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield.
This followed the US$2 billion buyout of Cushman & Wakefield, the largest closely held commercial-property brokerage, by a private equity consortium led by TPG Capital with the intention to merge the company with its DTZ unit.
The merger, announced in May, sought to draw on DTZ's strength in Asia with Cushman's almost 100 years as a well-known brand in the US.
The new Cushman & Wakefield will have a combined total revenue of US$5 billion, 43,000 employees, more than 4.3 billion sq ft under management, and US$191 billion in transaction value.
In Asia-Pacific, the combined entity now has more than 7,000 people operating in 21 offices, across 11 countries including Australia, Singapore, India, Japan, and New Zealand, it said on Wednesday.
DTZ's Tod Lickerman will become Cushman's global president. John Santora, Cushman's North American CEO before the deal, will be the combined company's global chief operating officer and chief integration officer.
Cushman & Wakefield will be led by chairman and CEO Brett White, who engineered the purchase of Cushman, and global president Tod Lickerman, who was DTZ global CEO prior to the deal. Mr White was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that turmoil in global markets made it an opportune time for TPG to buy Cushman & Wakefield and to combine it with DTZ given that the cost of capital used was "extremely inexpensive".
Stuart Roberts assumes the title of CEO Asia Pacific and will lead the effort to implement a strategic growth plan for the business throughout the region. In Singapore, Toby Dodd will continue in his role as managing director of Cushman & Wakefield.
DTZ SEA has around 530 employees, of which about 300 are based in Singapore. In addition, close to 1,800 sales agents operate under DTZ Property Network.
The firm's origins date back to 1995 when Edmund Tie & Company was formed. Over the past 16 years of establishment, it has expanded in South-east Asia with offices in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and recently in Vietnam.
In 1999, the firm merged with UK-based DTZ through an equity exchange, and thereafter has operated as DTZ SEA (legally registered here as DTZ Debenham Tie Leung (SEA) Pte Ltd).
In 2011, DTZ worldwide was acquired by UGL, and then in 2014 was sold to a consortium comprising TPG Capital, PAG Asia Capital and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. In January this year, the TPG consortium also bought US commercial real estate firm Cassidy Turley and merged it under the DTZ brand.
