Leading diversified professional services and investment management
company, Colliers (NASDAQ and TSX: CIGI), announced today it has
entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a significant equity
interest in Versus Capital (“Versus”), a leading U.S. alternative
real asset management firm with approximately $6.0 billion of
assets under management. The transaction is subject to customary
closing conditions and approvals and is expected to close in the
fourth quarter of 2022. Financial terms of the transaction were not
disclosed.
Founded in 2010 and based in Denver, Versus
offers alternative real asset investment solutions through actively
managed, perpetual-life funds that have consistently produced
attractive investment returns over time. Versus’ experienced team
of highly trained distribution professionals offer investment
products through a group of leading registered investment advisors
(“RIAs”), including some of the largest in the U.S. As part of its
new strategic partnership with Colliers, Versus expects to continue
expanding its investment offerings and capitalizing on the Colliers
investment management (“IM”) platform’s array of product
solutions.
Colliers will acquire a 75% ownership interest
in Versus, with the balance being retained by Versus’ co-founders
and senior leadership team who will continue to lead the business
under Colliers’ perpetual partnership model that provides long-term
alignment and stability for investors. All non-active shareholders
will sell 100% of their interests in the firm. On completion,
Colliers expects the annual run rate of management fee revenue to
be between $75 and $80 million, Adjusted EBITDA of $40 to $45
million, and operating results to be significantly accretive.
“Our partnership with Versus is an important
first step in accelerating Colliers’ global private wealth
distribution capability, which is becoming increasingly important
alongside our world-class institutional limited partner
relationships. We are excited to help the Versus team offer new
products to individual investors and their private wealth advisors
across the U.S.,” said Zach Michaud, Co-Chief Investment Officer of
Colliers. “Versus’ leadership team are exactly the types of people
we look to partner with – entrepreneurial, focused on growth, and
leaders in their space.”
“Our new partnership with Colliers was the
logical next step for us,” said Mark Quam, Co-Founder and Chief
Executive Officer of Versus. “Colliers has a highly recognized
global brand and platform, and they will be a perfect partner to us
going forward. They are entrepreneurial and a permanent source of
capital who shares our desire to accelerate our growth going
forward. We were also attracted to Colliers’ decentralized
operating model, significant insider ownership and proven track
record of success. On behalf of my co-founders and the rest of the
partners and professionals at Versus we are extremely excited about
our future and look forward to working with Colliers in the years
to come.”
“Let me also take this opportunity to welcome
our new partners at Versus. The entire team has done a terrific job
establishing a compelling business model that offers multiple
avenues to grow and deepen expertise in private wealth channels,
which presents many advantages across the rest of our growing
platform,” said Jay S. Hennick, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of Colliers. “The addition of Versus demonstrates our
continued focus on building scale and opportunity in our IM
business. On closing of Versus and Rockwood, our investment
management operations will oversee in excess of $83 billion in
assets under management, of which almost $70 billion will be either
perpetual or long-dated strategies, further strengthening our
recurring revenues for the future.”
In connection with this transaction, Berkshire
Global Advisors acted as financial advisor to Versus.
About Colliers
Colliers (NASDAQ, TSX: CIGI) is a leading
diversified professional services and investment management
company. With operations in 62 countries, our 17,000 enterprising
professionals work collaboratively to provide expert real estate
and investment advice to clients. For more than 27 years, our
experienced leadership with significant inside ownership has
delivered compound annual investment returns of 20% for
shareholders. With annual revenues of $4.3 billion and $65 billion
of assets under management, Colliers maximizes the potential of
property and real assets to accelerate the success of our clients,
our investors, and our people. Learn more
at corporate.colliers.com,
Twitter @Colliers or LinkedIn.
About Versus
Versus Capital Advisors LLC is a Denver-based
boutique investment management firm specializing in private and
public real assets investing. With approximately $6.0 billion in
assets under management across two funds, the firm provides access
to institutional private real assets with simplified ownership via
the interval fund structure. Versus Capital’s primary areas of
investment include private real estate, infrastructure, farmland
and timberland. For more information, please visit
www.versuscapital.com.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements include the Company’s
financial performance outlook and statements regarding goals,
beliefs, strategies, objectives, plans or current expectations.
These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially
different from any future results, performance or achievements
contemplated in the forward-looking statements. Such factors
include: economic conditions, especially as they relate to
commercial and consumer credit conditions and consumer spending,
particularly in regions where our business may be concentrated;
commercial real estate property values, vacancy rates and general
conditions of financial liquidity for real estate transactions;
trends in pricing and risk assumption for commercial real estate
services; the effect of significant movements in average
capitalization rates across different property types; a reduction
by companies in their reliance on outsourcing for their commercial
real estate needs, which would affect revenues and operating
performance; competition in the markets served by the Company; the
ability to attract new clients and to retain major clients and
renew related contracts; the ability to retain and incentivize
producers; increases in wage and benefit costs; the effects of
changes in interest rates on the cost of borrowing; unexpected
increases in operating costs, such as insurance, workers’
compensation and health care; changes in the frequency or severity
of insurance incidents relative to historical experience; the
effects of changes in foreign exchange rates in relation to the US
dollar on the Company’s Canadian dollar, Euro, Australian dollar
and UK pound sterling denominated revenues and expenses; the impact
of pandemics on client demand for the Company’s services, the
ability of the Company to deliver its services and the health and
productivity of its employees; the impact of global climate change;
the impact of political events including elections, referenda,
trade policy changes, immigration policy changes, hostilities and
terrorism on the Company’s operations; the ability to identify and
make acquisitions at reasonable prices and successfully integrate
acquired operations; the ability to execute on, and adapt to,
information technology strategies and trends; the ability to comply
with laws and regulations related to our global operations,
including real estate and mortgage banking licensure, labour and
employment laws and regulations, as well as the anti-corruption
laws and trade sanctions; and changes in government laws and
policies at the federal, state/provincial or local level that may
adversely impact the business.
Additional information and risk factors are
identified in the Company’s other periodic filings with Canadian
and US securities regulators (which factors are adopted herein and
a copy of which can be obtained at www.sedar.com). Forward looking
statements contained in this press release are made as of the date
hereof and are subject to change. All forward-looking statements in
this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements.
Except as required by applicable law, Colliers undertakes no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
Non-GAAP Measures
Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net earnings,
adjusted to exclude: (i) income tax; (ii) other expense (income);
(iii) interest expense; (iv) depreciation and amortization; (v)
acquisition-related items (including contingent acquisition
consideration fair value adjustments, contingent acquisition
consideration-related compensation expense and transaction costs);
(vi) restructuring costs and (vii) stock-based compensation
expense. We use adjusted EBITDA to evaluate our own operating
performance and our ability to service debt, as well as an integral
part of our planning and reporting systems. Additionally, we use
this measure in conjunction with discounted cash flow models to
determine the Company’s overall enterprise valuation and to
evaluate acquisition targets. We present adjusted EBITDA as a
supplemental measure because we believe such measure is useful to
investors as a reasonable indicator of operating performance
because of the low capital intensity of the Company’s service
operations. We believe this measure is a financial metric used by
many investors to compare companies, especially in the services
industry. This measure is not a recognized measure of financial
performance under GAAP in the United States, and should not be
considered as a substitute for operating earnings, net earnings or
cash flow from operating activities, as determined in accordance
with GAAP. Our method of calculating adjusted EBITDA may differ
from other issuers and accordingly, this measure may not be
comparable to measures used by other issuers.
We use the term assets under management (“AUM”)
as a measure of the scale of our Investment Management operations.
AUM is defined as the gross market value of operating assets and
the projected gross cost of development properties of the funds,
partnerships and accounts to which we provide management and
advisory services, including capital that such funds, partnerships
and accounts have the right to call from investors pursuant to
capital commitments. Our definition of AUM may differ from those
used by other issuers and as such may not be directly comparable to
similar measures used by other issuers.
COMPANY CONTACT:
Christian MayerChief
Financial Officer(416) 960-9500
Colliers (TSX:CIGI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Colliers (TSX:CIGI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024