CHICAGO—As reported yesterday in GlobeSt.com, Studley, a New York-based real estate firm, will complete a merger with London-based Savills plc by the end of May and adopt the name Savills Studley. And Studley officials in its Chicago office, which has about 30 brokers, say the move could bring them major corporate clients eager to take advantage of their new cross-border capabilities.

“It will give us the opportunity to seek business with great companies that over the years we've elected not to pursue,” John Goodman, the head of the Chicago office, tells GlobeSt.com. Studley specializes in tenant representation, “and our platform has been growing, but it's thin on the international side,” a gap that a global firm like Savills can fill. And joining up with Savills means Studley will also gain a facilities management capability, another potential lure for clients.

“We've resisted building a facilities management platform, maybe because we felt it was too big of a hill for us to climb on our own,” he says. But many Fortune 250 companies really need that piece, as well as the international breadth that Studley has lacked up until now.