Just two months after Savills bought Aguirre Newman, Colliers has taken a hit with the acquisition of the last great Spanish independent firm.

New marriage in the real estate consulting market. Colliers International Group has taken over the independent Spanish firm Irea, a move that comes just a few months after Savills bought Aguirre Newman, a company for which Colliers was also interested.

After this integration, the new company will have a team of more than 100 professionals, with offices in Madrid and Barcelona, ​​25 million euros in turnover, and will provide advisory services, capital markets, consulting, valuation, workplace solutions and project management. The objective of the new group is to be among the first three firms in the sector in five years.

The transaction has been structured through the purchase of the majority of Irea’s capital by Colliers International, a listed company with a global turnover of 27.000 million, a move followed by a merger, in which Irea has acquired the Spanish subsidiary of Colliers.

Mikel Echavarren, partner and founder of Irea, will be the CEO of Colliers in Spain, while the rest of the management team will be integrated by Ignacio M. Iturriaga, Joan García and Álvaro Alonso as heads of Corporate Finance; Neil Livingstone and Antonio Pan de Soraluce at the head of Capital Markets; and Miguel Vázquez and Laura Hernando, at the forefront of specialized hotel services.

In addition, within the model that characterizes Colliers of having local partners, in the Spanish subsidiary they will maintain 20% of the capital Echavarren, Livingstone and Pan de Soraluce.

Mikel Echavarren, founder of Irea, will be the CEO of the company in Spain and, together with Livingstone and Pan de Soraluce, will have 20% of the Spanish subsidiary.

“The Spanish real estate and hotel market has experienced significant growth in recent years and having the opportunity to expand our business with the excellent team of professionals from Irea allows us to offer high added value services to our customers,” said Chris McLernon, CEO of Colliers International for Emea.

“The integration in Colliers is a natural evolution for Irea, given that we both share the same business culture and a strong commitment to excellence,” said Echavarren. “We have considered that integrating ourselves into a global brand, which has an unparalleled international platform, is the key to strengthening our growth strategy and continuing to offer our customers the best possible service, anywhere in the world,” he added.

Source: El Confidencial – 27.02.2018