GBR Phoenix Beard scales up asset management offering via acquisition

BIRMINGHAM property consultancy GBR Phoenix Beard has acquired a property asset management company after several months of detailed discussions between the firms.

It has bought London-based Optic Asset Management.

The deal will increase the size of its London operation and give it a Yorkshire presence for the first time.

No financial details relating to the deal have been disclosed. 

The new business will trade under the GBR Phoenix Beard name and the move will create a firm with a combined turnover of more than £12m. 

Optic’s London team is scheduled to re-locate from current offices in Wells Street to GBR Phoenix Beard’s Chandos Street base in March.

The acquisition will also mean that GBR Phoenix Beard will now have a base in central Leeds.

Optic is a niche property asset management company, established by David Offen and James Young in 2003. It has grown to 18 staff, ten are based in London, whilst eight operate out of Leeds.

Clients of the business include Aberdeen Asset Management, Tiger Developments, Salmon Harvester, Mercer Real Estate, and Cube Real Estate.

GBR Phoenix Beard was established more than 40 years ago and now employs around 100 people across the UK.

It operates a significant property asset management business, acting for some of the UK’s leading institutional investors and property companies, including Standard Life Investments, Threadneedle Property Investments, Scarborough Group and IM Properties. 

Unlike Optic, GBR Phoenix Beard also offers specialist in-house building consultancy, residential, health and safety, and lease consultancy and valuation services.

The firm’s agency business in the West Midlands covers office, industrial and investment agency.

Simon Farrant, managing director of GBR Phoenix Beard Simon Farrant said: “This is a major development in our history and yet another statement of our ambition to make GBR Phoenix Beard a leading independent property consultancy.

“Having won a number of new retained mandates over the course of the last 12 months, the need to bolster the scale of our business has become increasingly apparent. 

“By strengthening our London presence, as well as the addition of a base in Leeds, we have significantly enhanced the firm’s GBR Phoenix Beard geographic footprint. 

“The move aligns GBR Phoenix Beard to the profile of our clients’ property portfolios.”

James Young, a director of Optic who will be in charge of GBR Phoenix Beard’s London office, added: “The prospect of working with our new colleagues is exciting, and this sentiment is shared amongst those clients with whom we have shared this news over recent weeks.

“The fit between our firms is strong – we are both fiercely independent and committed to client service delivery, demonstrated by the blue chip clients we have worked with over a sustained period of time.

“By pooling resources, we will be able to demonstrate tangible benefits to clients and staff alike.

“Clients and contacts of both firms should rest assured that it will be business as usual.”

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