RR Donnelley Sells GRES

CHICAGO—The Chicago-based company RR Donnelley & Sons has sold off its Global Real Estate Services group to Atlanta-based Covius, LLC, a real estate advisory firm that provides data and analytics, risk management, and other services. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but officials say the new company will maintain its offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

It’s just the latest of many changes and combinations that GRES has undergone over the years. In 2006, RR Donnelley acquired the group, then known as OfficeTiger Global Real Estate Services. It was created in 2005 when Office Tiger, a professional support services firm, acquired Atlanta-based MortgageRamp, a technology startup that developed an online commercial origination platform. In 2001, MortgageRamp had acquired Salt Lake City-based FASRE Field Services, one of the nation’s largest providers of annual property inspections to the commercial mortgage servicing industry. And in 2002, it had also acquired Univest Financial Services, LLC, which offered underwriting, due diligence and securitization support for commercial real estate, among other services.