NAI Global, Harcourts Group Form Joint Venture to Develop Commercial Brokerage Network Across Australia, New Zealand
Joint Venture with Harcourts Group Significantly Expands NAI Global’s Presence and Service Reach Down Under
NAI Global, the world’s premier managed network of commercial real estate firms and one of the largest real estate services providers worldwide, announced today a new joint venture with Harcourts Group that will significantly expand NAI Global’s reach and services in Australia and New Zealand. Operating as NAI Harcourts, the joint venture is expected to grow to more than a dozen locations within 12 months.
Harcourts is Australasia’s fastest growing real estate organization, with offices in all states and the Northern Territory, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia and Singapore. Last year, it expanded its operations into Zambia, China and South Africa, and currently has more than 600 offices internationally. A joint venture between Harcourts and NAI Global will introduce a strong global platform of commercial real estate brokerage services to support corporate end users, investors and financial institutions locally and around the world.
“Australia and New Zealand represent a vast opportunity for corporate end users and investors and the market is seeing impressive growth,” said NAI Global President & CEO Jeffrey M. Finn. “NAI Harcourts will give us a strong presence and powerful business generation engine in this important part of the world, connecting businesses and investors from around the globe to this escalating market.”
“Expanding our presence in the commercial sector is a significant step for the Harcourts Group, and a necessary one to take the company’s growth to the next level,” said Michael Green, International Managing Director, Harcourts Group. “Over the past few years the market has grown to exceed billions in revenue; yet at the same time we have seen very few new entrants, which offers NAI Harcourts a tremendous opportunity.”
Commercial real estate industry veteran Christopher Nicholl has been tapped to lead NAI Harcourts as CEO. Nicholl has more than 20 years of experience in commercial real estate and comes to NAI Harcourts after being based in Singapore as International Director and Regional Managing Director, Project and Development Services, Asia Pacific with Jones Lang LaSalle. Nicholl also previously served as head of Colliers Australia and Colliers Asia Pacific.
NAI Global has had a presence in Australia since 2005 through member firm NAI Melbourne. NAI Melbourne will continue to cover the Melbourne market working in tandem with the NAI Harcourts team. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, NAI Global manages a network of 325 offices and 5,000 professionals in 55 countries across the globe.
It is a good step by both the real estate giants as they will be able to share expertise and capture the real estate market in Australia and New Zealand. They both can do much better if they start working together in other parts of the world as well.
Posted by: Commercial Properties Blog | March 10, 2010 at 12:31 AM