Northeast bureau chief Glen Thompson assisted in the preparation of this article.

NEW YORK CITY-Just to make things clear at the outset, no one representing Grubb & Ellis in the highly publicized acquisition talks would state for the record what insiders have confirmed--that it was indeed CB Richard Ellis who had the firm in its acquisition sights. But who it was became somewhat of moot point with the report that talks have been terminated.

Asked if the negotiations broke down over money, Grubb & Ellis CEO Barry Barovick told GlobeSt.com that it wasn't price, it was the broad discrepancies between the two firms' "visions." The comment echoed the official press release, which referred only to "an unrelated third party" and its "unsolicited merger proposal."

In the release, Barovick stated that in the course of the talks, Grubb officials "came to realize that the potential merger partner did not share our vision regarding the industry in general, and our integrated business model in particular. In addition, it also became increasingly apparent that there were significant overlaps of personnel and locations, which led us to believe that too many of our personnel, all of whom we greatly value, would not be retained. The cumulative weight of those issues, and others, led us to terminate the discussions."