Chinese Investment Firm Eyes Cushman & Wakefield
The expected $2B sale of Cushman & Wakefield is still months away, but a Shanghai-based investment firm has emerged as an early frontrunner to acquire the mammoth brokerage. Fosun International is reportedly in early talks to buy the firm, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. Billionaire Guo Guangchang's company would fit the narrow profile of suitors considered by C&W, whose Italian parent company Exor is reportedly loath to consider a deal with CBRE, JLL or other real estate rivals.
Fosun has an Italian connection of its own, a stake in the menswear label Raffaele Caruso. It has also penetrated the American market with deals including 2013's $750M acquisition of One Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York. Guangchang's firm has announced $21.1B in buys over the past 12 months, scooping up the French resort titan Club Med, among others. Earlier this month, reports speculated that Fosun was also eyeing London's esteemed Grosvenor House hotel and the Brooklyn Nets. [Bloomberg]
