Seattle Buyer Acquires Colliers Seeley

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Doug Frye, president and CEO of CMN, tells GlobeSt.com that valuations for real estate services firms typically are arrived at via a formula involves a multiple of earnings. He points out that the multiple can vary greatly because it is determined by a variety of factors including "the size of the market, the upside and the quality of the firm."

Colliers Seeley has 138 brokers operating in 12 offices in Los Angeles and four adjacent counties, with annual revenue of approximately $60 million. Frye calls the acquisition a strategic fit with CMN's operations in the Western region of the US and its growing Asia Pacific operations including Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and China. CMN, which is the largest member firm of Colliers International, also has operations in Canada and throughout Central and Eastern Europe.

Colliers Seeley is headed by Tom Taylor, interim CEO. The firm was founded in 1908 and operated as the Seeley Co. before it affiliated with Colliers International. CMN's president for North America, Rick Chichester, will oversee the integration of the firm into Colliers International.

With the addition of the $60 million in annual revenue from Colliers Seeley, Colliers International now generates more than $400 million in annual revenue from 100 offices in 21 countries, notes Jay Hennick, founder and CEO of FirstService Corp. FirstService, which is a publicly held company listed on the Toronto and Nasdaq exchanges, also operates business lines including residential property management, security systems and business services.

The 18% ownership stake in Colliers Seeley that was not acquired by CMN will remain in the hands of senior management, active brokers and employees. Kerlin Capital Group, a private investment bank in Los Angeles, advised Colliers Seeley and its shareholders.