Colliers | Colliers to acquire market leading commercial real estate firm in Italy

Acquisition adds another strong company-owned operation in key European market

Leading diversified professional services and investment management company, Colliers, announced today it has entered into an agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Colliers International Italia S.p.A., Colliers Real Estate Services Italia S.R.L. and Colliers Real Estate Management Services Italia S.R.L. (collectively, “Colliers Italy”), which was previously an affiliate operation. The current shareholders of Colliers Italy, Ofer Arbib and Giulia Longo, will retain an equity interest in the business under Colliers’ unique partnership model. As a company-owned operation, Colliers Italy will continue to build on its market leadership position by increasing service capabilities and leveraging the vast resources of Colliers’ strong and highly innovative platform across Europe. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Originally founded in 1996, Colliers Italy has grown to over 80 professionals providing landlord agency, tenant representation, investment sales brokerage, property management, valuation and project management services to investors, developers and occupiers of commercial real estate.

“Milan and Rome are key European markets with a combined population of over 4.3 million and home to nearly all major Italian businesses and investors,” said Chris McLernon, CEO | EMEA for Colliers. “Colliers Italy has a market leading position and an experienced team of highly respected professionals with extensive knowledge of the Italian real estate landscape. This new partnership will allow Ofer and Giulia to continue their success and leverage the additional resources of the global business to better serve our clients domestically and internationally.”

“Given our long association with Colliers, this was a natural next step for our firm. Their enterprising approach and partnership philosophy will provide us with greater access to the broader Colliers platform to expand our capabilities and capitalize on the opportunities in our growing market,” said Giulia Longo, co-principal of Colliers Italy.

Related Experts

Anna Silkstone

Head of Content

EMEA Marketing

London - West End

+44 20 7344 6647

+44 7858 193 057

Anna is an experienced B2B marketer, communications and business development adviser. She specialises in content creation and the resultant campaign output. In her role as Head of Content, EMEA she develops compelling communications for multi-channel direct and social marketing, media and internal communications. This is done in partnership with the business line leaders, research, digital and creative leads.

Anna has developed all of her career experience in the real estate industry. This has included leading on market response campaigns, thought leadership content development, research report identification, production and launch, client engagement and market profiling campaigns, proposal responses and bid presentation management, value propositions for marketing material, trade show presence, stakeholder management, internal and external communications, and building a remote-working marketing team.

Prior to Colliers Anna worked at the global law firm, Dentons LLP as a Senior Business Development Manager for the Real Estate team and latterly as Head of Campaigns for the UKIME region, focusing on Environmental, Social and Governance. Anna also worked at CBRE for over two years and supported the Occupier Services section of the EMEA business. Before CBRE, Anna was at Lambert Smith Hampton for nearly nine years in a regional marketing role and later as a UK campaign manager.

View expert

Chris McLernon

Chief Executive Officer, Real Estate Services | Global

Corporate

+1 416 960 9500

As Chief Executive Officer, Real Estate Services | Global, Chris takes responsibility for client relationships, operational excellence, and overall growth within Colliers’ rapidly growing real estate services across 62 countries. He oversees Colliers’ Capital Markets, Leasing and Outsourcing & Advisory businesses globally, with emphasis on accelerating growth, enhancing global collaboration, and strengthening our unique culture and way of doing business.

Bringing a depth of experience in building and growing businesses in mature and emerging markets, Chris has played an integral role in growing Colliers into its current position. Previously the Chief Executive Officer for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Chris provided strategic direction for the region, ensuring a seamless service experience for clients across our complete range of services, and grew its revenues 20-fold. He oversaw more than 30 acquisitions including Colliers UK, Colliers Germany, Colliers Italy, Antirion, IREA, Sadline & Albaek, Ovenia and The AOS Group from France. Earlier, he built and led Colliers’ Latin America business and was one of the top producers in Canada when he joined Colliers in 1987 as an office leasing advisor in Toronto.

Throughout his career, Chris has delivered exceptional service, fulfilling the real estate needs of major corporations such as Nortel, FedEx, Oracle, Cisco Systems, Compaq, Dun & Bradstreet, Ford Motor Land, and Microsoft.

View expert