Atisreal's Giles Wrench

GlobeSt.com: The focus of the New York office is primarily to service BNP's clients here, correct?

Wrench: It's a platform to help us assist them with their real estate needs around the world, but the way the world works today, it's still generally business from the US exported around the world.

GlobeSt.com: Do you see a time when that willever change?

Wrench: Yes, and it is evident at least on the investment side of the business. The US has been the primary focus of foreign investment, not least because of the devaluation of the dollar and the fact that real estate is cheap here at the moment, particularly when compared with some of Europe's main cities. But it's different in corporate services. European and Asian companies are generally more decentralized, so we find more opportunity in account management with US corporates around the world.

GlobeSt.com: How does Atisreal differentiate itself from its global competitors?

Wrench: If you look at us in comparison to our competitors--particularly some of the US-based global firms, Jones Lang LaSalle, C&W, CBRE—they focus on horizontal expansion. The emphasis for BNP Paribas, through the purchase of Atisreal, is on vertical integration.

GlobeSt.com: Explain.

Wrench: Horizontal expansions are focused on real estate services; it's all contained within real estate. Our vertical integration combines the financial services of our parent with our real estate services and aggregates the obvious synergies that exist between the two. What differentiates us is that we can now offer under one roof a full suite of services.

GlobeSt.com: You've said Cresa is key to your expansion. But affiliations never seem to carry the clout of owned-branch relationships. What do you say to that?

Wrench: Well, obviously, setting up Atisreal in the US is not a mistake. Keep in mind that the C&W relationship with Healy & Baker was originally an affiliation that in time made sense to develop at a corporate-ownership level. Certainly our five-year relationship with Cresa Partners has been very productive. You can read between the lines.

GlobeSt.com: So a purchase of Cresa Partners is a possibility?

Wrench: It's certainly not a 2005 priority. Our immediate focus for this year is within Europe. In Germany and France, we're the number-one real estate services provider. On the transactions side of the business, we have a 35% market share. In the UK at the moment the business is around 11 or 12% based on revenue numbers. It's the intention of Atisreal to increase our position to within the Top Five. You can do that organically or achieve faster results by aggressively acquiring other companies and that's the approach we are using.

GlobeSt.com: Where else are you targeting growth?

Wrench: Central and Eastern Europe. With the recent expansion of the European Union into the former Soviet-block countries and certainly considering the dynamics of the EU, there's a tremendous amount of opportunity in those countries, and based on our clients' feedback, that's where they would like to be serviced. We do have alliance relationships there at the moment and we'd like to bring those into in-house ownership.

GlobeSt.com: If the affiliate concept works so well, why is there such an emphasis on ownership?

Wrench: BNP Paribas likes the control that comes with ownership. You ultimately have more control if you own the asset rather than if you have an affiliate relationship.

GlobeSt.com: Is it safe to say then that you're going after the market dominance of your prime global competitors?

Wrench: It's a natural conclusion. People today see CBRE as the benchmark. It is the intention of our chairman to make Atisreal the benchmark.