CBRE Group, Inc. is an American commercial real estate services and investment firm. The abbreviation CBRE stands for Coldwell BankerRichard Ellis. It is the largest commercial real estate services company in the world. The firm is ranked 128th on the Fortune 500 and has been included in the Fortune 500 every year since 2008. CBRE serves more than 90 of the top 100 companies on the Fortune 100.
Services
CBRE provides services to both occupiers of and investors in real estate:
Tucker, Lynch & Coldwell, the earliest predecessor to CBRE, was established on August 27, 1906, following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The company added Benjamin Arthur Banker as partner in 1913 and renamed itself Coldwell, Cornwall & Banker in 1920. Cornwall resigned as partner in 1940, and the company was renamed Coldwell, Banker & Co, which was eventually shortened to Coldwell Banker. In 1981, Coldwell Banker was acquired by Sears. In 1989, Sears sold Coldwell Banker's commercial unit to a management-led buyout group including The Carlyle Group for approximately $300 million. After the buyout, the company was renamed CB Commercial Real Estate Group. The residential group retained the Coldwell Banker name. In 1996, the company became a public company via an initial public offering, raising approximately $80 million. In 1997, the company acquired Koll Real Estate Services for $145 million. In 1998, CB Commercial merged with Richard Ellis International Limited and changed its name to CB Richard Ellis. In 2001, CB Richard Ellis was acquired in a Leveraged buyout by an investment group led by Blum Capital in an $800 million transaction. In 2003, the company acquired Insignia Financial Group for $415 million. On June 10, 2004, CB Richard Ellis once again became a public company via an initial public offering. In 2006, the company's shares were added to the S&P 500 Index. In December 2006, the company acquired Trammell Crow Company for $2.2 billion. In 2011, the company acquired the real estate investment business of ING Group for $940 million. In 2011, the company changed its name to CBRE Group Inc. In 2013 the company acquired Norland Managed Services, a facilities, energy and project management provider in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In 2015 the company acquired Global Workplace Solutions from Johnson Controls. In 2018, the company acquired FacilitySource. In 2019, the group acquired the London developer Telford Homes.
Controversies
Rigged bidding
According to a lawsuit back in 2012, CBRE violated Federal Deposit Insurance Corp rules by letting Florida's Stonegate Bank pay less for a branch than a consultant named Kenneth H. Thomas had bid for it. However, it is unclear if the suit was followed through.
