THE head of real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle in Birmingham says he is optimistic of avoiding redundancies following the merger with King Sturge.
Around 120 people are employed across the firms’ offices in central Birmingham but it is still too early to say exactly how the merged teams will operate, according to the head of JLL.
Jan Thompson said: “The whole point of the merger is to keep the vast majority of people, and everyone if possible.
“We will be looking at things through the transition to the new structure and there may be some roles duplicated.
“If there are some numbers which need to be looked at, it will be a case of natural attrition. I am optimistic it will not be an issue.”
Under the deal, JLL has paid £197m to King Sturge with an immediate cash payment of £98m, followed by the remainder being settled over the next five years.
A new UK operating board, with Andrew Gould as chief executive and Richard Batten as executive chairman, has already been put in place but the identity of who will lead the regional offices is yet to be announced.
JLL has 10 UK offices while consultancy King Sturge runs 24, all of which will come under the former’s brand.
In Birmingham, JLL is based One Colmore Square while King Sturge is in Church Street but its head Ian Cornock said it was not yet decided what would happen to the two bases.
“We are looking at integrating the teams in the medium to long term all under one roof but we’ve both got existing offices,” Mr Cornock said.
“We’re not just going to go out and acquire a new office and double our overheads – the key is to integrate the teams as a merged entity and that process is just starting.
“To date, everything has been done at a high level and now we must sort out the integration of the businesses.”
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