LONDON-Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle acquired Upstream, a leading locally based real estate sustainability services practice. A source close to the deal tells GlobeSt.com that JLL cannot disclose finances at this time, but that the company has acquired a 30-person team of sustainability experts.

"We believe there is real vision and commitment in bringing Upstream together with Jones Lang LaSalle," notes Dan Probst, chairman of the Global Environmental Sustainability Board at JLL, in a prepared statement. "It brings another talented group of people into our global organization, providing them with new opportunities and support; and adds a new dimension to our Energy & Sustainability Services offering, which is unmatched by any competitor." Probst continues that "the expertise, experience, tools and talent of Upstream will infuse our global sustainability capabilities with fresh impetus and proven ideas, highly complementary to our successful existing ESS business lines."

The source further explains that this "signifies additional global growth for the firm and marks a further step at toward [JLL's] stated goal of being the leading provider of sustainability services to developers, investors and occupiers." The source adds that "Upstream has proprietary benchmark services that are already used by one-third of the International Property Databank companies-so well established experts."

According to a company statement, the combined strength of JLL and Upstream will provide clients with a sustainability consultancy service for real estate that will include: benchmarking, which will be endorsed by an independent supervisory panel; intelligence; strategy; and management systems, communications, capacity building, research and advocacy. Upstream will continue to operate under its own name for a transitional period into the New Year, when and independent advisory panel will be put in place to oversee its benchmarking and services.

JLL's new Upstream business group will continue to be led by the existing leadership team, chairman, David Cadman and joint managing directors Julie Hirigoyen and Sarah Ratcliffe. The entire team will relocate to JLL's Hanover Square offices next spring.

Both Hirigoyen and Ratcliffe note that "by joining forces with Jones Lang LaSalle, we will be better able to grow the scale and scope of our business, realizing our strategic goal to embed sustainability into all real estate decision-making. The combination of our specialist sustainability advice and Jones Lang LaSalle's full range of real estate advisory, transaction and management services will create a market leading force that will be hard to beat."

Probst concludes that this "acquisition will help us to realize our strategic objective of becoming the leading provider of sustainability services to developers, owners and occupiers around the world. The combination of Jones Lang LaSalle and Upstream will take the advice available to our clients to a different level than is currently available in the market."

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JLL Expands Globally With Upstream Acquisition

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