REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
The Instant Group, Incendium and Capstan Advisors | August 17, 2022
Workspace and strategy consultancy Incendium Consulting, part of the global workspace innovation firm The Instant Group, has acquired Capstan Advisors. As the shift to hybrid work environments has challenged businesses cross-functionally, Fortune 1000 companies look to Incendium and Instant for smarter working strategies. This alliance strengthens Incendium's global reach and accelerates its U.S. growth strategy to help enterprise corporations with organizational and functional strategy.
Leaders need flexibility and smarter working practices to address ever-changing workplace dynamics, particularly in this pivotal moment of change, As part of the world's largest global flexible marketplace, we work with business and corporate real estate leaders to challenge traditional approaches to real estate and evolve workplace models that deliver smart work solutions. Capstan Advisors will ignite Incendium's U.S. expansion plans for our real estate advisory services practice. Their experience and strength in corporate real estate consulting, procurement and strategy brings depth of capability and additional blue-chip clients to the group,said Mike Perkis, Global Head of Incendium Consulting.
Headquartered in the U.S., Capstan Advisors is a leading provider of organizational design, outsourcing process management, contract negotiation, and transition support for the full spectrum of corporate real estate services for global Fortune 1000 companies. Like Incendium, they work with some of the largest firms in pharmaceutical, technology, manufacturing, financial services and telecom/media services.
"Corporate real estate executives face tremendous challenges today, with the changing nature of work and renewed pressure to reduce costs, Incendium expands both our global reach and the services we can offer to our clients, from our core business of operating model and procurement to Incendium's other advisory areas such as sustainability, executive recruiting and workplace strategy advisory services."
-Paul Garity, one of Capstan's partners
Garity and his partners, Sherri Parman, John Davis, and Kent Wiegel are all seasoned corporate real estate executives with hands-on experience managing corporate real estate as both corporate real estate executives and service providers. Since inception, Capstan has completed advisory assignments for over 100 corporations with real estate portfolios in the Americas, EMEA and Asia.
About The Instant Group
The Instant Group has been rethinking workspace since 1999 with over 500 experts working globally across more than 175 countries. Instant's digital platforms constitute the world's largest digital marketplace for flexible workspace listing meeting rooms, virtual offices, flexible office space and coworking memberships. Its global team advises on commercial real estate solutions from serviced offices to fully customized managed offices, and consulting services for portfolio and net zero strategies. Instant's approach enables agility, hybrid working solutions and improved operational resilience for more than 250,000 businesses every year. Clients include Amex, Prudential, Booking.com, Shell, Jaguar Land Rover and GSK. Instant has global offices including London, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney.
About Incendium
Incendium is a leading global corporate real estate consultancy business that partners with occupiers to support and enable their business performance through its core service lines of Strategy & Change, Operating Model and Procurement, and Sustainability. Incendium works with a range of significant blue-chip global clients across many sectors to use real estate as a catalyst for agility, performance, and value. As part of The Instant Group, it works together with colleagues from across the business to devise and implement innovative agile workplace strategies and solutions for all clients.
About Capstan Advisors
Capstan Advisors, founded in 2007, is a leading consulting firm in the U.S. dedicated to advising corporate real estate and procurement executives of global companies on best practices for corporate real estate organizations, operations and service delivery. Capstan's primary consulting services include organizational transformation, outsourcing consulting, ongoing contract governance, transition implementation, and performance management. Capstan assists clients across the spectrum of services including facilities operations, transactions, project management, lease administration, and a variety of other corporate services.
Read More
INVESTMENTS
Sotheby's International Realty | August 17, 2022
Sotheby's International Realty announced the opening of Great Lakes Sotheby's International Realty, signifying the brand's continued growth in the state of Michigan. The addition marks the brand's seventh office in the state.
Great Lakes Sotheby's International Realty is owned and operated by Dean Groulx and Wendy Groulx, who bring more than 60 years of collective experience to the company. Headquartered in the city of Elk Rapids, the office will serve the greater Traverse City area in Michigan including Alden, Bellaire, Elk Rapids, Elk Lake, Lake Leelanau, North Port, Suttons Bay, Torch Lake, and Traverse City.
"Greater Traverse City has a robust luxury home market, It's become attractive for high-net-worth individuals and entrepreneurs and we're seeing both U.S. and international buyers purchasing primary and secondary homes in the area. Our continued growth in the state enables our brand to service this growing market and I look forward to supporting Dean, Wendy, and the entire Great Lakes Sotheby's International Realty team."
-Philip White, president and CEO of Sotheby's International Realty
The Traverse City area boasts a lifestyle and culture that few other places can match, Our area has access to some of the largest and most pristine freshwater lakes and access to world-class entertainment and fine dining. Few real estate companies can match the background and experience of our brokers and sales associates, and our affiliation with Sotheby's International Realty will offer sellers and buyers in the greater Traverse City area an experience like no other thanks to its prestige, global presence, and marketing capabilities,said Groulx.
The company has plans for future growth in Alden, Bellaire, Traverse City, Northport, and Leelanau. Great Lakes Sotheby's International Realty was launched in partnership with Russ Post, owner/broker of Ocean Sotheby's International Realty.
The Sotheby's International Realty® network currently has nearly 26,000 affiliated independent sales associates located in over 1,000 offices in 81 countries and territories worldwide. Great Lakes Sotheby's International Realty listings are marketed on the sothebysrealty.com global website. In addition to the referral opportunities and widened exposure generated from this source, the firm's brokers and clients will benefit from an association with Sotheby's auction house and worldwide Sotheby's International Realty marketing programs. Each office is independently owned and operated.
Sotheby's International Realty
Sotheby's International Realty was founded in 1976 as a real estate service for discerning clients of Sotheby's auction house. Today, the company's global footprint spans more than 1,000 offices located in 81 countries and territories worldwide, including 51 company-owned brokerage offices in key metropolitan and resort markets. In February 2004, Anywhere Real Estate Inc. entered a long-term strategic alliance with Sotheby's, the operator of the auction house. The agreement provided for the licensing of the Sotheby's International Realty name and the development of a franchise system. The franchise system is comprised of an affiliate network, where each office is independently owned and operated. Sotheby's International Realty supports its affiliates and agents with a host of operational, marketing, recruiting, educational and business development resources. Affiliates and agents also benefit from an association with the venerable Sotheby's auction house, established in 1744.
Read More
REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
The Ascott Limited | July 05, 2022
CapitaLand Investment Limited's (CLI) wholly owned lodging business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott) announced it is acquiring Oakwood Worldwide (Oakwood), a premier global serviced apartment provider, from Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd. The acquisition increases Ascott's global portfolio by 81 properties and about 15,000 units. Oakwood's approximately 8,500 operational units are expected to immediately contribute to Ascott's recurring fee income streams upon completion of the transaction slated in 3Q 2022.
Ascott's acquisition of Oakwood will leapfrog Ascott's global presence to more than 150,000 units in about 900 properties across over 200 cities in 39 countries. It will add new markets which include Cheongju in South Korea; Zhangjiakou and Qingdao in China; Dhaka in Bangladesh as well as Washington D.C. in the United States of America (USA). Recently named the 'Best Serviced Residence Brand' in DestinAsian Readers' Choice Awards 2022, Oakwood's award-winning portfolio includes flagship properties Oakwood Premier Tokyo and Oakwood Premier Coex Center Seoul which were ranked top 10 properties in their respective countries in the DestinAsian awards. New properties such as Oakwood Premier Melbourne and Oakwood Hotel Oike Kyoto, will also add to the group's destination highlights.
"This acquisition of Oakwood is part of Ascott's roadmap to playing a bigger role in the lodging market. There are significant synergies between Ascott and Oakwood, given our complementary footprint and product offerings. We intend to build on the strong reputation and heritage of the Oakwood brand, especially in markets across Southeast Asia, North Asia and North America. Oakwood will continue to grow alongside Ascott's current portfolio of global brands as we continue to build growth momentum for our lodging business. We will be able to leverage Ascott's extensive expertise as a global lodging player to deliver greater value to our expanded network of loyal customers and property owners. Besides strategic alignment, this acquisition is also notable to Ascott commercially. Ascott's acquisition of Oakwood brings about an immediate boost to our units under management and franchise contracts. The Oakwood portfolio will accelerate the growth of our asset-light business, with added recurring fee income streams, expanded lodging offerings and increased customer base. The strategic moves we have made in the last few years, such as our investments in Quest, Synergy and TAUZIA have charted an unprecedented growth path for Ascott."
-Mr Kevin Goh, CLI's Chief Executive Officer for Lodging.
Ascott's strategic investments in the past years include its acquisition of Quest Apartment Hotels (Quest), one of the largest serviced apartment operators in Australasia, in 2017 to grow its business franchise arm. In the same year, Ascott invested in Synergy Global Housing (Synergy), a leading corporate housing provider in the USA. In 2018, Ascott acquired TAUZIA Hotel Management (TAUZIA), one of the top hotel operators in Indonesia, to enter the fast-growing mid-scale business hotel segment. With Oakwood coming onboard, Ascott is confident of achieving its target of 160,000 units globally well ahead of 2023.
About The Ascott Limited-
The Ascott Limited (Ascott) is a Singapore company that has grown to be one of the leading international lodging owner-operators. Ascott's portfolio spans over 200 cities across over 30 countries in Asia Pacific, Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the USA. Ascott has more than 81,000 operating units and over 54,000 units under development, making a total of more than 135,000 units in over 800 properties. The company's serviced apartment, coliving and hotel brands include Ascott The Residence, The Crest Collection, Somerset, Quest, Citadines, lyf, Préférence, Vertu, Harris, Citadines Connect, Fox, Yello, Fox Lite and POP!. Ascott's loyalty programme, Ascott Star Rewards, offers exclusive benefits to its members when they book directly with Ascott for their stays at its participating properties. Ascott, a wholly owned subsidiary of CapitaLand Investment Limited, pioneered Asia Pacific's first international-class serviced apartment with the opening of The Ascott Singapore in 1984. Today, the company boasts over 30 years of industry track record and award-winning brands that enjoy recognition worldwide.
About CapitaLand Investment Limited-
Headquartered and listed in Singapore, CapitaLand Investment Limited (CLI) is a leading global real estate investment manager (REIM) with a strong Asia foothold. As at 31 March 2022, CLI had about S$124 billion of real estate assets under management, and about S$86 billion of real estate funds under management (FUM) held via six listed real estate investment trusts and business trusts, and 29 private funds across the Asia-Pacific, Europe and USA. Its diversified real estate asset classes cover integrated developments, retail, office, lodging, business parks, industrial, logistics and data centres. CLI aims to scale its FUM and fee-related earnings through its full stack of investment management and operating capabilities. As the listed investment management business arm of the CapitaLand Group, CLI has access to the development capabilities of and pipeline investment opportunities from CapitaLand's development arm. Being a part of the well-established CapitaLand ecosystem differentiates CLI from other REIMs. As part of the CapitaLand Group, CLI places sustainability at the core of what it does. As a responsible real estate company, CLI contributes to the environmental and social well-being of the communities where it operates, as it delivers long-term economic value to its stakeholders.
Read More