Debenham Thouard Zadelhoff, known as DTZ, was a European joint venture originated from UK, France and the Netherlands, operating as a commercial real estate services firm. On September 1, 2015, Cushman & Wakefield and DTZ merged. The firm now operates under the Cushman & Wakefield brand and has a new visual identity and logo. The new Cushman & Wakefield is majority owned by an investor group led by TPG, PAG, and OTPP.
History
1784
DTZ founding predecessor firm, Chesshire Gibson, established in Birmingham, UK. 1853
Beginnings in London with second predecessor Debenham and Tewson. 1987
A European joint venture and creation on a new entity with Jean Thouard of France, and the Zadelhoff Group in Germany and the Netherlands, creates the DTZ brand. 1999
The DTZ brand extends into Asia with partners CY Leung & Co and Edmund Tie & Co in Singapore. DTZ’s French subsidiary acquired a majority shareholding in DTZ Asset Management, France. 2004 - 2008 DTZ opened of offices in India and Bahrain and its continued expansion into China. These years saw global growth across India, the Middle East, China, the United Kingdom, Canada and the US. 2011 In December 2011, the parent company DTZ Holdings was placed into administration and its business entities were sold to UGL in order to repay 77.5m of an outstanding 106m debt owed to Royal Bank of Scotland and its shareholders equity was wiped out after a deal with its majority shareholder Saint George Participations and BNP Paribas Real Estate fell through. the company was reportedly worth almost 500m around 2006. The company was in financial difficulty after a spending spree prior to financial crisis buying Rockwood in the US and retail agent Donaldsons. Australia engineering firm UGL Limited acquires the trading operations of DTZ and combines its property services firms: Singapore facilities management firm UGL-Premas, US corporate real estate firm UGL-Equis, Americas facilities services firm UGL-Unicco, Australia, New Zealand and Middle East facilities management and real estate companies UGL Services. 2012 UGL’s property services companies were integrated and rebranded to DTZ; expanding its global presence to 52 countries. Moves global headquarters from London to US. 2014 UGL sold DTZ to a private equity consortium comprising TPG Capital, PAG Asia Capital and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. On December 31, 2014, the TPG Consortium purchases US commercial real estate firm Cassidy Turley, adding 4,000 employees and 900 brokers. The new DTZ now has more than 28,000 employees in more than 260 offices in 50 countries. 2015 On May 11, 2015, DTZ announced the purchase of Cushman and Wakefield. When the deal closes, the expected combined employee count will be 43,000. On September 1, 2015, DTZ merged with Cushman & Wakefield. Cushman & Wakefield is among the largest commercial real estate services firms with revenue of $5 billion. The firm operates in more than 60 countries and has 43,000+ employees.
