The office was created "with the intention of leveraging BNP Paribas' relationships with its corporate clients," he tells GlobeSt.com. BNP, the seventh largest banking institution in the world, acquired a 49.9% stake in Atis Real International in a deal signed on Jan. 27 of 2004. Remaining shares were held by Vendome Rome Group and Credit Lyonnais Private Equity until October when BNP purchased the remaining shares. (A rebranding program fused the dual names Atis Real into one.) The New York office is in BNP spaces at 787 Seventh Ave.

In terms of the firm's five-year relationship with Cresa, Wrench says the only change "will hopefully be positive. Cresa will benefit from the relationship, and the alliance agreement will remain the same."

Wrench projects that the new operation could more than double last year's transatlantic-deal volume from "almost 90 to more than 200." Last year, Atisreal, which boasts a 1,503-person global staff (not counting affiliates) closed on roughly 4,500 in European deals alone. Revenues were $279.8 million.