Newmark Group rejects Cushman & Wakefield takeover offer

Brokerage had concerns with rival’s debt load

Cushman’s Brett White and Newmark’s Barry Gosin (Getty)
Cushman’s Brett White and Newmark’s Barry Gosin (Getty)

Newmark Group recently rejected a takeover offer from rival Cushman & Wakefield.

Newmark was not interested in the deal, in part because Cushman carries a high debt load, sources with knowledge of the offer told Bloomberg News. Cushman has about $3.8 billion in debt, which is larger than its market capitalization of roughly $2.6 billion.

“Cushman & Wakefield has certainly benefited from ongoing consolidation as a leader in our industry, but we won’t comment on this, or any, market rumor,” Cushman spokesperson Brad Kreiger told Bloomberg in a statement.

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Representatives from Newmark did not respond to the publication’s requests.

Although talks between Newmark and Cushman appear to have fallen off, they show an interest for more consolidation in the commercial real estate services sector. Last year, JLL acquired HFF for $2 billion.

The current incarnation of Cushman is the result of private equity firm TPG Capital buying the brokerage in 2015 for $2 billion and combining it with the brokerage Cassidy Turley before taking the new firm public in 2018. [Bloomberg News] — Rich Bockmann