Savills Completes Purchase Of Aguirre Newman For €67M

31 July 2017 – El Confidencial

Savills has confirmed the news revealed on Friday morning by El Confidencial that it has formally agreed to purchase Aguirre Newman. This operation that puts an end to the sales process that was opened by the Spanish real estate company in February.

As a result of the acquisition, the British company has multiplied its size in Spain seven-fold, increasing its workforce from 70 people to almost 500 professionals. Moreover, it has completed the second most important international purchase in its history following its acquisition of Studley in the USA in 2014.

The transaction price has been agreed at €67 million, which will be paid in instalments over five years. The transaction is expected to be completed on 30 November, once all of the standard regulatory conditions have been fulfilled.

Although the exact terms of the agreement are unknown, the selection of Savills as the winning candidate has been based both on that firm’s economic proposal, as well as its commitment to continue to employ the workforce and to respect the roles of Aguirre Newman’s senior management.

In fact, the resulting company will initially operate in Spain under the brand Savills Aguirre Newman. Santiago Aguirre will be the CEO, whilst Stephen Newman and Rafael Merry del Val will occupy the two executive co-vice-president roles.

The senior management team will also include José Navarro, Javier Echeverría, Jaime Pascual-Sanchiz and Ángel Serrano; whilst the office in Barcelona will be led by Anna Gener and Arturo Díaz, as the CEO and President, respectively.

In addition to Savills, other firms that expressed interest in this operation included Colliers and Cushman & Wakefield. Moreover, the latter managed to hold very advanced conversations with a view to closing an agreement, but in the end, it never materialised, which left the path open for Savills to exclusively negotiate its purchase (…).

With its integration into Savills, Aguirre Newman will achieve its long-time goal of forming part of a large international network, a leap in size that it considers critical in the context of the growing weight of multinationals in the real estate market and its desire to work within a network that has operations around the world.

Meanwhile, Savills has managed to grow to a size that corresponds to its status as one of the large global real estate consultants, listed on the London Stock Exchange, with a market capitalisation of GBP 1,300 million (€1,450 million). By contrast, in Spain until now, it has operated as a specialist boutique. One of its most recent major achievements was the sale of Torre Agbar to Merlin, in a deal that was designed and executed by Savills.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

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