NEW YORK CITY—It's official: Cushman & Wakefield has agreed to acquire Massey Knakal Realty Services for about $100 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. GlobeSt.com reported Friday that the deal likely was taking place.
Cushman reportedly beat out 10 other bidders; a number that was tossed around when the prospect of the deal was first disclosed in November. The deal is expected to close by year's end. Representatives of Cushman and of Massey Knakal did not respond to GlobeSt.com's requests for comment by press time.
The acquisition will help Cushman build “a more formidable capital markets presence in the New York Tri-State region,” Cushman tells the Journal. In a statement, Massey said Cushman's global reach “will enhance the breadth of real estate services we can now offer our clients.”
Cushman was advised in the sales process by Goldman, Sachs & Co and was represented by a DLA Piper team led by Sidney Burke, partner, and Alexandra Lauvaux, of counsel, with the firm's M&A practice. The team included Erin D'Angelo, employment; Rita Patel, benefits; Frank Mugabi, tax; Andrew Levy and David Szeker, real estate; William Bartow, intellectual property and Brittani Yriarte and Valentine Han, corporate.
The DLA Piper team worked together with Cushman & Wakefield's global general counsel, Gene Boxer, and North America general counsel, Rick Cenkus. Massey Knakal was advised by Perella Weinberg Partners LP.
Massey Knakal has more than 200 employees and an annual gross revenue of about $80 million. The firm was founded in 1988 by Paul Massey Jr. and Robert Knakal.
“They have built a truly dominant force in capital markets in the New York metro area,” says Cushman CEO Ed Forst.
Massey Knakal has represented a sizeable share of the city's CRE sales market, focusing particularly on the market's midsection, meaning properties valued at $500,000 to $50 million.
As previously reported, Massey Knakal had been marketing a non-controlling stake in the firm but—like Cushman—many bidders were after the entire company.
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