Colliers International Group (TSX:CIGI) provides commercial real estate services to corporate and institutional clients in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It offers sales brokerage services, debt placement, equity capital raising, market value opinions, acquisition advisory, and transaction management services. It also offers investment management services comprising asset management advisory and administration, and transaction services. The company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
In 2020, Colliers delivered strong financial results, despite the impact of the global pandemic. The company has taken several bold steps over the past four years to transform Colliers into a more balanced and resilient firm. The company grows the business faster than others by augmenting internal growth with strategic acquisitions that increase market share, expand service offerings, and extend geographic reach for the benefit of the company’s clients.
Unique business model
Colliers’s unique, decentralized operating model helps it to respond to challenges and seize opportunities faster than most. Recently, the company completed two of the largest acquisitions in the company’s history. The addition of these new services, Colliers Mortgage and Colliers Engineering & Design, represent an important step in the company’s strategy to add more highly valued, essential services to further diversify Colliers’s business.
The company’s high-quality, recurring services, such as investment management, property and project management, engineering and design, and mortgage servicing, now represent more than 50% of the company’s revenues and more than 60% of the company’s earnings. The balance comes from transactional services, leasing, and capital markets.
Diverse asset class
Colliers benefits from being diversified by geography, service, and asset class, which adds to the company’s stability. As one of the world’s leading diversified professional services and investment management firms, Colliers’s investment management business now accounts for 18% of the company’s earnings. The business comprises of two platforms, which continue to add significant and enduring value to Colliers, with $40 billion of assets under management, up 20% from last year.
Recently, the company completed four acquisitions and one green-field start-up. This included Colliers Mortgage, a specialty real estate debt finance business primarily for multifamily, healthcare and senior housing real estate and, Colliers Engineering & Design, a provider of multidiscipline engineering, design, and consulting services.
Leader in technology services
Also core to the company’s business are technologies that deliver the best service and expertise to the company’s clients. In 2020, Colliers’s engaged leaders across the company’s business to focus on approach to technology investments and shape the company’s innovation roadmap to meet client needs. As part of this, Colliers has partnered to develop virtual solutions that help navigate the impacts of COVID-19, including artificial intelligence, virtual office tours, and workplace analytics to give employees and clients a competitive advantage.
The company’s highly recognized global brand and platform continues to be one of Colliers’s competitive advantages. Together with the company’s competitive advantages, proven 26-year track record, strong balance sheet, and significant inside ownership, Colliers is a global leader in professional services and investment management. The company is expected to emerge from this pandemic stronger and more balanced than ever.
