ATLANTA—In a move to rapidly grow in the Southeast and Southwest, Cushman & Wakefield announced plans to acquire Cousins Properties’ Atlanta- and Dallas-based third party client services. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close by year end, were not disclosed.

Cousins’ Client Services Group offers third party services to owners of class A office buildings in Atlanta and Dallas including leasing, property management, and project management services. Cousins maintains ownership of its fee business.

“This move marks a key milestone as we begin the next phase of our strategic growth plan,” Glenn Rufrano, president and CEO of C&W, said in a statement. “Integrating such a quality group into our platform enables C&W to continue to balance our service mix across our global platform and provide consistent quality service to our clients.”

Under the terms of the agreement, up to 128 professionals will transition from Cousins to C&W. The specific number to join the Atlanta office has not been determined, but the acquisition will add about 3 million square feet to C&W’s Atlanta leasing and managing portfolio. That brings the firm’s total square footage in Atlanta to more than 11 million.

“We are very excited about this transaction—we really consider it a partnership—and view this as a win-win for Cousins, C&W, and most importantly, our clients,” Larry Gellerstedt, president and CEO of Cousins, said in a statement. “This not only ensures that our clients will be part of a broad global platform and can leverage all of the benefits that come with it, but is also consistent with Cousins’ strategic goal of simplification and a heightened focus on our core business.”

Cousin’s Client Services Group services will be integrated into C&W’s Investor Services division, which is part of the firm’s Corporate Occupier and Investor Services (CIS) group and is a main priority of the firm’s growth plan. CIS currently manages nearly 16,000 properties totaling more than 800 million square feet worldwide.