GBR Phoenix Beard has revealed that it has acquired Optic Asset Management following several months of detailed discussions between the firms. The new business will be called GBR Phoenix Beard and will trade with immediate effect. Optic’s London team is scheduled to re-locate from current offices in Wells Street to GBR Phoenix Beard’s Chandos Street base in March. The acquisition will mean that GBR Phoenix Beard will now have a base in central Leeds. GBR Phoenix Beard’s Birmingham office is largely unaffected by the announcement.
Optic is a niche property asset management company, established by David Offen and James Young in 2003. It has grown to 18 staff, ten are based in London, whilst eight operate out of Leeds. Clients of the business include Aberdeen Asset Management, Tiger Developments, Salmon Harvester, Mercer Real Estate, and Cube Real Estate.
GBR Phoenix Beard was established over 40 years ago and now employs around 100 people across the UK. GBR Phoenix Beard also operates a significant property asset management business, acting for some of the UK’s leading institutional investors and property companies, including Standard Life Investments, Threadneedle Property Investments, Scarborough Group and IM Properties. Unlike Optic, GBR Phoenix Beard also offers specialist in-house building consultancy, residential, health and safety, and lease consultancy and valuation services. The firm’s award winning agency business in the West Midlands covers office, industrial and investment agency, and is widely acknowledged in Estates Gazette and CoStar league tables as being the leading Birmingham office agency.
Managing Director of GBR Phoenix Beard Simon Farrant said:
“This is a major development in our history and yet another statement of our ambition to make GBR Phoenix Beard a leading independent property consultancy. Having won a number of new retained mandates over the course of the last 12 months, the need to bolster the scale of our business has become increasingly apparent. By strengthening our London presence, as well as the addition of a base in Leeds, we have significantly enhanced the firm’s geographic footprint. The move aligns GBR Phoenix Beard to the profile of our clients’ property portfolios.”
James Young, a director of Optic who will be in charge of GBR Phoenix Beard’s London office, added:
“The prospect of working with our new colleagues is exciting, and this sentiment is shared amongst those clients with whom we have shared this news over recent weeks. The fit between our firms is strong – we are both fiercely independent and committed to client service delivery, demonstrated by the blue chip clients we have worked with over a sustained period of time. By pooling resources, we will be able to demonstrate tangible benefits to clients and staff alike. Clients and contacts of both firms should rest assured that it will be business as usual.”
David Offen, Managing Director of Optic, will remain as a director of the enlarged business with responsibility for a number of key client accounts. David said:-
“This is an exciting development for our business. The tie up with GBR Phoenix Beard offers our clients a top drawer infrastructure and enables the merged business to handle a level of service and volume we would have taken several more years to develop organically.”
The move will create a firm with a combined turnover of more than £12m and no redundancies are anticipated as a result of the merger.