Firm brings in Arcadis veteran as finishing touches to 拢960m deal for UK consultant finalised

CBRE, which is expected to formally ink its deal for a 60% stake in Turner & Townsend later this autumn, has brought in an Arcadis veteran to beef up its project management team.

The US giant is paying 拢960m for a majority stake in the 75-year-old UK consultant with the deal being completed by the end of this year, possibly as early as next month.

In the meantime, CBRE has appointed Matthew Cutts as head of investor and developer clients at its project management business for the EMEA region.

Matthew Cutts background landscape

Cutts has been with EC Harris and Arcadis more than 20 years

Cutts, who spent more than 20 years at Arcadis and EC Harris, the firm snapped up by Arcadis several years ago, will work alongside CBRE鈥檚 head of project management and building consultancy for the EMEA region.

A CBRE spokesperson said: 鈥淭he hire is in line with the company鈥檚 ambitious plans for growth in the project management business and follows the announcement made in July [about T&T].鈥�

Atkins added: 鈥淚nvestors are responding to complex challenges including covid-19 repositioning, ESG targets and changing consumer and occupier trends. Consequently, we鈥檙e anticipating a surge in project management activity, and increasing demand for the integrated services and solutions provided by CBRE. We have ambitious plans for growth.鈥�

Explaining the decision to shell out nearly 拢1bn for T&T, the boss of CBRE Bob Sulentic said: 鈥淭his is a transformational transaction for our project management business in terms of both breadth and scale of capabilities.

鈥淲e see sizable secular growth opportunities in project management, which are being propelled by rising public and private infrastructure investment and the drive to a low-carbon global economy.鈥�

In its last set of results, CBRE, which is listed on the New York stock exchange, posted revenue of $23.8bn (拢17.2bn) in 2020, flat compared with 2019, with earnings of $752m (拢541m) which was down from the $1.3bn posted the year before.

T&T had been expected to post its results for the year to April last month. These are expected to show turnover of 拢665m and earnings that are in excess of 拢120m.

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