DTZ Invests $35M Into FHO Partners

BOSTON-Bringing another major player to the city’s competitive real estate brokerage sector, global CRE advisory firm DTZ has made a $35-million investment with option to purchase FHO Partners. The locally based team of 40 industry professionals broke off on their own last year after Trammell Crow Co. was acquired by CB Richard Ellis.

“We view our FHO transaction as another important step in our strategy to build breadth and depth of local talent within the world’s key financial centers,” DTZ chief executive Mark Struckett says in a release announcing the commitment. The firm last year, for example, expanded into New York City by acquiring Rockwood, and DTZ officials indicate they plan to pursue additional relationships in other US markets going forward.

On the flip side, FHO principal Joseph Fallon says the union with DTZ fulfills his firm’s goal of finding a partner possessing a global platform to help clients needing cross-border services. Colliers International reportedly had pursued FHO soon after Boston’s Trammell Crow team opted to launch its own operation earlier this year, and rumors that DTZ was making a run began circulating once prospects for a Colliers affiliation faded. In assessing the DTZ agreement, Fallon says the arrangement should benefit all phases of FHO’s landlord, tenant and capital markets efforts.