Italian Investors Close on C&W Majority Stake

NEW YORK CITY-Italian investment trust Ifil has closed on its planned takeover of a majority stake in Cushman & Wakefield. The trust will take a 71.5% chunk of C&W for $625 million in cash. Even before the deal closed, Ifil’s war chest was hefty with some 7 billion euros of investments that include Italian carmaker Fiat. The deal, originally anticipated to close in January, was caught up in the European approvals process, sources state. The remaining ownership percentage is held by company employees.

As GlobeSt.com reported in mid-December—ahead of C&W’s own press conference on the pending deal–the New York City-based services firm was planning to shed its longtime Japanese majority stakeholder—Mitsubishi Estate Co. Mitsubishi is actually a majority stakeholder in the New York City-based Rockefeller Group, which in turn was the majority stakeholder in C&W. Although the brokerage is no longer part of Rockefeller, it still possesses four other operating companies: a development firm, a technology company, Rockefeller Group Business Centers and Commonwealth Partners.

At the time the news broke, talk around the market focused on the ability of C&W to grow once the Italians threw their capital behind the firm. At the December press conference, C&W president and CEO Bruce E. Mosler all but confirmed those rumors: “With the help and support of RGI we have forged an agreement with a partner who is in complete alliance with Cushman & Wakefield’s global business strategy and goals. We will be particularly focused on expansion in Europe and Asia,” to achieve 50% of revenue from outside the US.

Representatives of Ifil underscored that growth plan. “Financial services in general and real estate related businesses specifically have been high on a list of preferred investments,” said John Elkann, vice chairman of Ifil. “We also like investing in entrepreneurial management. We like strong brands supported by a clear strategic vision. Cushman & Wakefield ticks all the boxes,” Elkann went on to say the purchase of C&W also fulfills the company’s goal of diversification, “This being a greater diversification of our assets by sector, by geography and by currency.”