Cushman & Wakefield to Buy Premisys

Cushman & Wakefield on Monday said it agreed to buy property manager Premisys Real Estate Services Inc. from Prudential Insurance Co. of America, the latest transaction in this rapidly consolidating area of the real estate industry.

Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed.

“This business is breaking down to a handful of very large, international firms offering clients one-stop shopping and a smaller tier of boutique firms specializing in one or two certain products or geographic areas,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a Cushman senior managing director.

The purchase boosts closely held New York-based Cushman’s property management business by about 50% to more than 200 million square feet of space.

Premisys, based in Houston, was formed in 1989 to service properties owned by Prudential. It has more than 1,000 employees.

The real estate services businesses have seen a number of high-profile transactions in recent months as brokers, property managers and others team up to cut costs and offer more services.

In March, Los Angeles-based CB Commercial Real Estate Services Group Inc. agreed to buy Newport Beach-based Koll Real Estate Services for $145 million in stock, joining the nation’s largest commercial property broker with the largest property manager. Koll manages 185 million square feet of space.

A month later LaSalle Partners bought Galbreath Co., forming a company with 200 million square feet under management.

Cushman’s purchase of Premisys “affords new opportunities to showcase our depth of services and expertise to new and existing clients,” Arthur Mirante, president and chief executive, said in a statement.

For Prudential, the sale is part of the insurance company’s plan to swap the bulk of its $5-billion real estate portfolio for shares in public and private companies and partnerships.

“We’ve now decided [Premisys is] really not a stand-alone business in which we have a long-term interest, considering our investment portfolio strategy,” Byron Atkinson, a Prudential managing director, said in a statement.