Northmarq Completes Stan Johnson Co. Acquisition

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Northmarq has completed its acquisition of Stan Johnson Co., a purchase that also includes Four Pillars Capital Markets, a debt/equity intermediary for CRE assets.

Founded in 1985 by its namesake, SJC has grown to become a leading middle-market net-lease investment sales brand and a top 10 U.S. middle-market firm. The company reportedly has seen an approximately 600 percent increase in revenue since 2005.

In recent years, SJC acquired Shane Investment Property Group to help support a growing multi-tenant retail focus, entered the self storage sector, and launched Four Pillars Capital Markets, which secured about $500 million in loan volume during its first year.

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FPCM is a key component of the acquisition, according to Northmarq, given FPCM’s alignment with Northmarq’s established debt/equity financing team.

Stan Johnson, Founder, Stan Johnson Co. Photo courtesy of Stan Johnson Co.

An SJC spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive, “Stan Johnson will remain with the company for several months to aid in the transition.

Plans for the acquisition had been announced at the beginning of September. Industry experts at that time gave the deal a thumbs-up, indicating that the expanded Northmarq would have a stronger end-to-end investment sales platform and that SJC was not likely to break into the top tier of the net lease investment sales market on its own.

Houlihan Lokey served SJC as its exclusive financial advisor in the deal, with Bass, Berry & Sims PLC providing legal advisory services.

Jeff Weidell, CEO, Northmarq. Photo courtesy of Northmarq

With the addition of SJC and FPCM to its existing multifamily sales platform, Northmarq will now offer services across all major property types, including office, health care, industrial, retail, self storage and multifamily.

The acquisition of the two firms means that Northmarq will now have almost 1,000 professionals across its investment sales, debt/equity financing, loan servicing and fund management operations. The expanded company annually transacts $23 billion in debt/equity volume and $15 billion in investment sales volume and services a commercial loan portfolio in excess of $76 billion.

Slower road ahead?

Over the 12 months ending in the second quarter, net-lease investment volume increased by 29.5 percent, to $94.7 billion, from the previous 12 months, according to a report from CBRE.

However, in a signal that the sector is cooling, in the second quarter of this year, net-lease investment volume declined by 17.3 percent year-over-year, to $15.8 billion, despite total CRE investment having grown over the same period by 14.2 percent, to $179 billion.

“Net-lease investment volume is expected to further moderate as persistent inflation and aggressive interest rate hikes weigh more heavily on economic growth and property market fundamentals,” CBRE said.