Avison Young Completes Merger With GVA

From left to right: Gerry Hughes, Jason Sibthorpe, Mark Rose, Andy Mottram

Avison Young has closed on its acquisition of U.K.-based GVA, with the two companies now combined under the Avison Young name and brand. The company increased its revenue to nearly $1 billion in 2018.

“GVA allows us to expand our global platform, become a top-five player in the U.K. and add strategic consultancy businesses,” Avison Young CEO Mark Rose told Commercial Property Executive. “This merger expands our reach and advice-led services to institutional, corporate and private clients worldwide. Their 200-year old history of private, partnership was a perfect fit for our principal-led culture.”

The deal was initially conceived back in November. Now that it’s complete, it establishes Avison Young as the only privately held, principal-led, global full-service commercial real estate services firm.

With the deal in place, Jason Sibthorpe, Avison Young’s managing director in the U.K., now serves as president of U.K. Gerry Hughes, GVA’s former CEO, is now managing director of U.K., while Andy Mottram, former GVA chairman, is now managing director of Europe.

Expanding its global presence

The acquisition also included GVA Worldwide Ltd.—a noted international organization of licensed affiliate commercial real estate advisory companies. Therefore, the merge between companies means Avison Young now has new offices throughout the U.K. in London, Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Maidenhead, Manchester and Newcastle.

The deal also provides the firm with offices in Vienna, Madrid, Moscow, Dublin, as well as in Sofia, Bulgaria, Zagreb, Croatia, Oslo, Norway, Warsaw, Poland, Dubai. In addition, Avison Young’s branches are present in four cities in China—Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai, four cities in France—Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille and Paris, two in Greece—Athens and Thessaloniki, two in Italy—Milan and Rome) and three in Romania—Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Timisoara.

“This deal represents another milestone in our global expansion strategy, and the combination will better position Avison Young to serve our clients around the world,” Rose said.

Since 2008, Avison Young has increased its scope from 300 real estate professionals in 11 offices in Canada to about 5,000 real estate professionals in 120 offices in 20 countries.

Image courtesy of Avison Young