Both Cassidy Turley and DTZ were acquired in 2014 by a consortium of investors consisting of TPG Capital, PAG Asia Capital and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
“What you have here is a merger of two companies, one that has an incredible presence in Europe and Asia, and then the merger with Cassidy Turley, which has a considerable presence in the United States,” Bolton said. It “creates the number three player globally.”
The Cassidy Turley name is relatively new to the commercial real estate business. The brand name was established nearly five years ago by a previous merger of companies, Bolton said. Pre-merger, Cassidy Turley operated in about 30 major metro markets in the U.S. and was one of the largest in the business in the Cincinnati-Dayton region.
That’s whereas the name DTZ dates back more than 200 years to its founding in England, he said.
Cassidy Turley and DTZ join other industry names such as IDI and Gazeley, which specialize in logistics development, to announce mergers within the last year.
“There absolutely is a consolidation going on in the (commercial real estate) CRE services business,” Bolton said. “What’s driving it really is the economic recovery because companies in the United States are seeking to become more global, so therefore, they need more global ability to do their real estate work.”
“That’s causing firms like ours to have a global presence and a global connection.”
Global expansion of services to business clients was the number one reason behind combining the Cassidy Turley and DTZ business, Bolton said.
DTZ also benefits from the added capital of its new ownership group to fund office expansions and identify opportunities to pursue new clients, he said.
Altogether, the new DTZ operations in Cincinnati-Dayton employ nearly 130 staff members and manage nearly 21 million-square-feet of building space.
“Our clients won’t see any change with who the deal with or how they deal with us,” Bolton added.
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