CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc.

CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. is preeminently the largest commercial real estate company in the world. Fortune has ranked CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) as one of the fastest-growing companies in 2007, while Business Week included the giant realty firm in its list of the fifty Best in Class firms.

From its headquarters in El Segundo, California, CB Richard Ellis Group operates in no less than fifty nations, with nearly 30,000 employees dispersed in over 300 offices. (These figures do not include its affiliates.)

Its purchase of Texas-based realty firm Trammell Crow underscores its cachet and has made it the biggest commercial real estate services firm in the world. Earlier in 2003, CB Richard Ellis had bought Insignia/ESG, a huge American realty company. Through its merger with Insignia, CB Richard Ellis is now the world’s premier commercial property manager.

CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. is a fully integrated realty services firm. As the largest commercial real estate services company on earth, CBRE tackles a great plethora of tasks for a wide spectrum of clientele. Managing over 1.7 billion sq. ft. of property, CBRE has leveraged the realty concerns of many leading corporations. It offers tactical asset services, aside from myriad other services including project management, investment management, brokerage, and research and consultation.

Institutions, offices, industries, and retail centers alike have fallen back on CB Richard Ellis’ asset services, among others. With first-hand knowledge of virtually all global markets, CBRE is an expert at any facet of commercial real estate management. Its personnel can customize asset services and programs that can work towards the success of the task at hand. For instance, CBRE covers property with the widest reach, because it is also the largest third-party insurance firm of its kind in the world. CB Richard Ellis also offers investment management services and a comprehensive line of brokerage services.

Jones Lang LaSalle

Like CBRE, Jones Lang LaSalle is another leviathan in real estate. Unlike CBRE however, Jones Lang LaSalle is the only firm of its kind listed in the Forbes 400 Best Big Companies for three years in a row.

The real estate and money management services firm, with its assets amounting to $49.7 billion, is the largest investment management company in the world and has amassed revenue of $2.7 billion, (as of 2007) making it one of the most successful providers of real estate services in the world. The company has 1.2 billion square feet of physical properties worldwide.

The company employs 1,700 professional project and development managers around the world, a number unmatched by any other. It also has branched out around the world into 170 offices, in over sixty countries and 700 cities.

Jones Lang LaSalle assists investors, owners, and occupiers of properties in corporate finance and in the buying, selling, and managing of real estate.

The company also specializes in maximizing returns on realty investments for property investors, owners and occupiers and is an expert at selling individual assets and portfolios too. In all matters, its clients are well represented at every point in the transaction.

Jones Lang LaSalle is arguably the only firm of its kind operating in autonomy. It can be consistent in its servicing, seeing as its personnel are governed under a single organizational structure.

Cushman & Wakefield

One of Jones Lang LaSalle’s and CB Richard Ellis’ stiffest competitors is Cushman & Wakefield (C&W). The company specializes in the servicing of the real estate requirements of corporations and financial institutions worldwide.

Cushman & Wakefield has 215 offices across 56 nations and there are currently around 12,000 fully fledged professionals working for the realty company.

Among several accolades, Cushman & Wakefield has been recognized as European Retail Property Adviser in 2006. In the same year at the European Property Awards, the company garnered two awards—the European Office Agency Team of the Year and European Retail and Leisure Agency Team of the Year, which are the most prestigious honors given to property advisers in Europe. Moreover, The Sunday Times in London also listed the company under its “Best Companies to Work For” list.

In the same year at London, Cushman & Wakefield stepped up to receive International Property Agent plum at the 2006 Retail & Leisure International Awards.

Solutions for C&W clients, whether they are owners or investors, include managing assets, brokering, planning, research and analysis on global markets, optimizing portfolios, managing the supply chain, and site selection. In any event, the company represents clients at any point during real estate transaction.

Cushman & Wakefield can optimize and market properties for more than they are worth as the firm has an all-reaching global presence and extensive market intelligence, which clients can use to size up crucial strategies. Publications and studies have agreed that C&W’s research capacity is the benchmark in the industry.

Furthermore, Cushman & Wakefield delivers solutions that enhances shareholder value as well as substantially cut costs. Other services C&W can offer today are risk management, construction supervision, valuation, project management distribution, and acquisition and disposition. The company even offers to landlords brokerage services, which can be custom-made for them.

Through its Capital Markets arm, Cushman & Wakefield can counsel its clientele in maximizing the value of their assets, even if it takes sourcing funds. From here, C&W can then help clients buy, sell, invest or build property. That is why the company is an expert at financing matters like selling and buying investments, underwriting securities, mortgages, joint ventures, and so forth.

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Resources: Examples of large, family-owned, and individually-owned real estate investment companies