Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE: JLL), the world’s leading integrated global real estate services and money management firm, and Trammell Crow Meghraj (TCM), one of the largest privately held real estate services company in India, have reached an agreement to combine operations. The merged entity, named Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, will be the largest real estate services firm in India.
The merger enables Jones Lang LaSalle, which has an integrated global platform with approximately 150 offices in more than 450 cities in over 50 countries, to add immediate scale in India, one of the world’s fastest growing economies, and strengthen its depth of resources in the local market. For TCM, Jones Lang LaSalle’s global resources will enhance their ability to serve clients’ global needs.
“Jones Lang LaSalle has an unmatched global corporate platform and industry best practices, while TCM has unparalleled local market penetration and a strong financial position. Together they form the preeminent and largest real estate services provider in India, with a robust platform that will play to the strengths of both firms and elevate service delivery, coverage and depth for clients. The merger will also create a dominant brand and strong market leadership position, which is set to revolutionise the future of the real estate services industry in India. With a much more diverse management team, stronger talent pool, larger geographic footprint and enhanced scope of services, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj will be a firm to be reckoned with for all local, regional and global business opportunities in India. All of these would not have been possible as separate firms,” said Peter Barge, Jones Lang LaSalle’s Asia Pacific chief executive officer.
Anuj Puri, chairman and country head of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj and previously managing director of TCM, stated, “TCM was built with a vision and zeal to be among the largest end-to-end real estate service providers in India. By this merger, we had envisioned forging a new alliance with the best in class global real estate services firm, which would not only empower our employees to move on to a more robust global service delivery platform, but also ensure access to the very best of international standard systems and processes.”
Both Jones Lang LaSalle and TCM’s senior management will hold leadership positions within Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, and all employees will integrate into similar capacities and roles within the combined organisation. Puri maintains senior oversight as chairman and country head. Vincent Lottefier, who was previously Jones Lang LaSalle’s country head for India, has been appointed as chief executive officer, India. Two other key senior executives in the new entity are Santhosh Kumar (TCM) and Gagan Singh (Jones Lang LaSalle), who will both assume the roles of deputy CEOs.
Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj will have approximately 2,800 employees in India, with offices in 10 cities. The combined firm, which will have 44 million square feet under management across India, will have its India head office in Delhi.
Lottefier informed, “Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj has aggressive growth plans. By 2009, we expect to exceed USD 100 million in revenue and aim to establish offices in five more cities, bringing the total number of cities that we operate in to 15. We will also introduce additional service lines including a full-service hotel division, corporate capital markets, debt and derivatives, asset management and specialist mall management. We will continue to hire and grow our talent pool to ensure that we have the best people to provide quality advice and services to our strong and reputable client base. Our plan is to grow our professional staff strength by 35 per cent over and above the present strength of 2,800 employees, by 2009.”
– Bangalore Bureau
