Cushman & Wakefield is moving forward with its long-rumored plans to go public.
The global commercial brokerage is interviewing advisers to help the company prepare for an initial public offering, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.
Cushman could have an IPO as soon as this year, said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified due to the private nature of the talks. Cushman began holding informal meetings with banks last year, and any decision on moving forward with a public listing would be based on the company’s performance and market conditions.
Representatives for Cushman and TPG, the private equity firm that acquired the company in 2015 for roughly $2 billion including debt, declined to comment to Bloomberg.
Cushman’s been relatively quiet on the IPO front since news first broke earlier last year that it was considering going public as early as the third quarter of 2017.
In the meantime, rival brokerage Newmark Knight Frank last year held its own IPO, which was considered somewhat of a disappointment after pricing was scaled back.
There were six real estate service firms that went public raising a total of $2.5 billion last year, following a two-year hiatus in market activity that started in 2015.
Cushman, led by CEO Brett White, has been behind some of the largest deals as of late in New York, thanks in part to hiring top investment-sales brokers Doug Harmon and Adam Spies. [Bloomberg] – Rich Bockmann