A private company with more than 520 employees in five cities, LePage has operations in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal and affiliate offices in Edmonton, Winnipeg and Atlantic Canada. The firm has been owned by Brookfield Asset Management--currently Brascan Corp.--since 1984. It was founded in 1913.

This transaction excludes the Royal LePage residential network, which Brookfield Asset Management manages under the Royal LePage Franchise Services Fund, and the Brascan Financial Real Estate Group, which is also owned and operated by Brookfield Asset Management.

"This is such an important strategic decision," said Bruce Mosler, president and CEO of Cushman & Wakefield, during a conference call on the merger. "The word strategic is often overused. In this case, it can't be overemphasized. This makes C&W the dominant player in North America." He added that Cushman approached LePage about merging soon after he took office in January.