Work has already begun in bringing together the teams of two of the city’s leading property firms after their merger was announced last week.
The heads of the city offices of Jones Lang LaSalle and King Sturge said it would be a number of months before all questions about accommodation and staffing could be answered but they were keen to start working together immediately.
The agreement will see Jones Lang LaSalle absorb King Sturge in a £197 million deal with an immediate £98 million cash payment and the rest being paid in instalments over the next five years.
All 43 King Sturge offices and businesses across Europe, including 24 in the UK, will become part of Jones Lang LaSalle and will operate under the JLL brand. Currently Jones Lang LaSalle is based at One Colmore Square headed up by Jan Thompson while King Sturge’s city office is at 45 Church Street and led by Ian Cornock.
While there were still finer details to iron out, both Mr Thompson and Mr Cornock said they were confident that the merger was a good fit for both offices.
Mr Thompson said: “We don’t think there is a lot of overlap in the region so we feel this merger is about making what we do stronger.
“This merger will make us about 120 strong and we think this is great news for Jones Lang LaSalle as it will really put it at the top table as well as bringing an added skills base to the existing team.”
Mr Cornock said: “What this merger does is give us a greater range and breadth of service for our clients. For example we have got a planning team in Birmingham which is something that JLL don’t have and likewise they have a corporate real estate team which we don’t have.
Mr Thompson added: “Which means we can better serve the corporate clients that King Sturge bring to the table which will all help us push ahead when the next development cycle comes along which it will at some point.”
Mr Thompson said that it was important that the two companies began integrating as soon as possible.
He added: “What we have done is started a review of our accommodation needs in the city and that will be completed hopefully in the next three or four months but in the mean time we will be hoping to bring some of the teams together either at our office at Colmore Square of visa versa at Church Street.
“On a personal note Ian and I worked together from 1994 to 2005 so we get on very well and are both excited about working together again. There is no doubt that the aim of this merger is to grow the capabilities of this business and while we believe there is very little duplication between the two operation, if there are potential redundancies then we will go through a comprehensive review process as you would expect of a company this size although we really don’t expect there to be much in that regard,” he added.
