Property company Colliers Jackson-Stops sells majority stake to UK group

Irish
Property company Colliers Jackson-Stops sells majority stake to UK group
By Finfacts Team
Jun 14, 2006, 08:12

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The Dublin based property consultancy Colliers Jackson-Stops has sold 60% of its shares to Colliers CRE Plc, one of the UK’s top ten real estate advisory consultancies in a part cash/part share deal based on a value of €9 million.

Colliers CRE, which employs almost 750 staff in the UK, has offices in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Glasgow and Edinburgh and has recently opened an office, trading as Colliers International, in Madrid. Colliers CRE already holds a 25% stake in the Colliers office in Belfast, so this latest investment will consolidate its position as one of the top surveying practices in the UK and Ireland.

Colliers Jackson-Stops, which has been established in Ireland for over 70 years and which is moving to new corporate headquarters on Pembroke Street in Dublin, welcomes this development. Commenting on today’s announcement, Declan Stone, Managing Director of Colliers Jackson-Stops said;

“Any mid-sized company wishing to expand in our sector must become part of a larger entity in order to maximise the growth potential from the global property market and I expect we will see further deals of this nature in the months ahead. The current partners have retained a 40% share in the business because we are very excited by the opportunity which exists to further grow this company. We are a young and ambitious management team and we have identified very strong growth targets. The resources of Colliers CRE will strengthen the international expertise and resources available to us as we expand our business. Our move to new offices on Pembroke Street is being undertaken to facilitate this growth – we expect to increase our staff by at least 10 people before the end of the year.

“Ireland’s property market remains very strong, but more importantly Irish investors are playing an ever more important and growing role in the global investment market. That has sparked interest in Irish property companies - yesterday Savills acquired HOK and earlier this year we saw the acquisition of Gunnes commercial arm by CBRE. Our own announcement today reflects this worldwide trend towards global alliances and partnerships”.

David Izett, chief executive of Colliers CRE in London will join the Colliers Jackson-Stops board as Chairman. Declan Stone will remain as managing director of the company. Each company will continue as an active member of Colliers International which employs over 9,300 people in 247 offices around the world.