Big shakeup at Colliers: Baxter, Cohen, Latham out

Richard Baxter, Yoron Cohen and Scott Latham, Colliers International’s top investment-sales trio, are leaving the firm, sources confirmed to The Real Deal.

The news was first reported by Real Estate Alert. Reached by phone Friday, Cohen confirmed the departures, and said he was yet unsure of his future plans.

“There are huge changes taking place in our business and the market,” Cohen said. “It will take a bit of time to see it sorted out.” Baxter, who is working part-time as a consultant through his firm West Tisbury Partners, described his departure as a retirement.

“We are all in our mid- to late 60s, are thankful for the many great years, and now time to stay healthy, enjoy the fruits of our labor and let some of the young guys have a chance!” he said in a text to TRD. “We still may work with a few of the best clients on special projects. Don’t count us out!”

REA reported that a senior managing director in the investment-sales group, Jason Gold, is also out, as are several analysts.

The trio had moved over to Colliers in December 2016 from JLL, as part of Colliers’ push to ramp up its investment-sales practice. While at JLL, they had worked on deals such as Olayan Group’s $1.4 billion purchase of the Sony Building, and prior to that, worked on several marquee transactions at Cushman & Wakefield, including Kushner Companies’ record $1.8 billion purchase of 666 Fifth Avenue. Colliers hoped that nabbing the brokers would help propel the firm higher up the dealmaking totem pole.

(Read more: Inside the exodus of JLL’s I-sales quartet)

But the data show that the move may not have quite worked out: Colliers did not feature among the top 20 investment-sales firms in New York in either 2019 or 2020, according to The Real Deal’s rankings. Cushman took the top spot by a wide margin in the most recent ranking, followed by CBRE, JLL and Eastdil Secured.

(Read more: TRD’s annual tally of the city’s biggest investment sales firms)