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Brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap, Inc. has entered an agreement to acquire Vancouver-based Form Real Estate Advisors Inc.
“In our time spent with senior management, we were incredibly impressed with the company’s core values as well as what the Marcus & Millichap platform had to offer,” Form principal David Morris, who will assume the title of senior managing director with Marcus & Millichap, told RENX.
“Their business model was similarly aligned with ours and, obviously, their retail focus was attractive to us. They have a great reputation, which was incredibly important in making our decision.
“Marcus & Millichap has a great deal of respect for what we built and they showed no desire to change how we operate. They’ve been clear they have every intention of helping us grow and only making us better.”
Form specializes in retail real estate
Form was founded in 2010. It specializes in all aspects of retail real estate brokerage and advisory services and has a team that includes Morris and partners Derick Fluker, Jon Buckley and Jack Allpress.
Form has completed more than four million square feet of lease transactions on behalf of Canadian retailers and landlords and more than $1.2 billion in sale transactions on behalf of real estate investors and developers. It has sale and lease listings in British Columbia and Alberta.
“Over the years, we expanded to become a multi-disciplinary team of more than 20 people,” said Morris. “We began to focus more on selling development land for both retail and mixed uses, two property sectors where the demand has grown exponentially in Vancouver over the past 10 years.”
Marcus & Millichap is expanding
Marcus & Millichap specializes in commercial real estate investment sales, financing, research and advisory services. As of June 30, the Calabasas, Calif.-headquartered company had more than 1,900 investment sales and financing professionals in more than 80 offices.
Marcus & Millichap closed 4,485 transactions with a sales volume of approximately $22.8 billion in the first six months of 2019.
“The acquisition of Form will advance a dual goal of expanding our reach in Canada, particularly in a global market like Vancouver, and deepening our expertise and client reach in the retail segment,” Marcus & Millichap president and chief executive officer Hessam Nadji said in a release.
“We were attracted to Form because of their sterling reputation in the market and their core values of integrity, collaboration and a client-centric model. We believe being part of our platform will facilitate growth for their existing business and support our overall expansion in Western Canada.”
Marcus & Millichap has been steadily expanding its network in Canada during the past year or two. It has made additions in Edmonton, Montreal (the 2018 acquisition of McGill Commercial) and Ottawa (acquiring Primecorp Commercial Realty Inc.) to join existing offices in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.
Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap, is also growing in Canada with a half-dozen employees involved in transactions nationwide. IPA is focused on the REIT sector, tier one institutional clients and individuals on deals worth more than $20 million, mainly in the retail and multi-family sectors in Canada.
Partnership will benefit both companies
Morris said the new partnership will allow Form to increase its reach, resources, research and marketing services, while giving it access to Marcus & Millichap’s broader brokerage network. He believes Form can increase the larger company’s retail real estate market share and provide trusted relationships with retailers, landlords and investors across Canada.
“I can’t say there’s one notable transaction that has made Form what it is today, but what I can say is that we are well-known for punching above our weight class,” said Morris. “We’re known to manage large and often complex mandates successfully, which, in return, has assisted in growing our reputation as a firm.
“We are a very driven group of individuals and our desire to execute and deliver for our clients, I believe, is what gets us called back to the table for the next large mandate.”
The acquisition is expected to close within the next 90 days.
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