TRW, Elsevier Merge Real Estate Information Operations : Information: Joint venture will be headquartered in Riverside. Companies cite high costs of developing new business.
Citing the high costs of developing new business in today’s economy, TRW Inc. and Elsevier N.V. said Monday that they have combined their real estate information operations in a new joint venture, TRW Redi Property Data, headquartered in Riverside.
Edwin P. Setzer, previously vice president and general manager of TRW Real Estate Information Services in Anaheim, has been appointed president and general manager of the new company, which employs about 1,400 people in 29 offices throughout the country.
A spokesman for the new company said Monday that some overlapping positions will ultimately be eliminated through attrition and layoffs but said that the number of jobs to be cut won’t be known until a companywide review is conducted.
TRW, the Ohio-based aerospace, defense and information services firm, will be majority partner in the venture through its real estate information services division, which employs about 90 people in Anaheim. The spokesman said there are no plans to close the Anaheim office, although some employees are expected to be transferred to the new Riverside headquarters.
Elsevier is an international technical and professional publishing company based in Holland. It is placing three operating units into the partnership: Damar Real Estate Information Service in Los Angeles, REDI Real Estate Information Service in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and Sanborn Map Service in Pelham, N.Y.
The joint venture company selected Riverside for its administrative offices to make use of an existing facility that has served as headquarters of TRW’s property data organization since it consolidated its Southern California operations in July, 1990.
The company will provide a variety of real estate data--including housing and commercial property sales statistics and information about liens and other encumbrances--to title companies, appraisers, realtors, brokers, construction and mortgage lenders, and other clients, and claims a combined total of 40,000 customers in 35 states.
Setzer said that most services will remain relatively unchanged for now. “We are going to concentrate first on the job of combining the two companies into one smooth-running, profitable organization. Second, we plan to roll out existing services to geographic areas not currently served. Our third order of business will be to create and introduce new services.”
On-line tax and title services offered to title insurance companies by TRW would not be affected by the joint venture, he said.
