Cushman & Wakefield, the world's third-largest commercial brokerage, told investors that one of its directors has resigned from the board.
The Chicago-based real estate services firm said Tuesday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that TPG's vice chair and TPG Capital's former Chief Investment Officer Jonathan Coslet resigned from his role as a board director for Cushman & Wakefield late last week.
Coslet had been a TPG-affiliated designated director since the real estate services firm's initial public offering in 2018. He is a senior partner at TPG and a member of the firm's investment and management committees.
The decision by Coslet to depart from his role on Cushman & Wakefield's board comes weeks after the commercial brokerage told investors that TPG and investment firm PAG Asia Capital planned to sell their outstanding shares of Cushman & Wakefield in a deal valued at $310 million. A Cushman & Wakefield spokesperson told CoStar News the deal closed last month.
TPG and PAG with Ontario Limited and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board helped forge the path that led DTZ and Cushman & Wakefield to combine businesses in 2015, forming a rival firm to CBRE and JLL. Cushman & Wakefield went public in 2018, and TPG's and PAG's shareholders agreement let the companies appoint three people to the brokerage's board.
Coslet was the last TPG-affiliated director serving on Cushman & Wakefield's board. TPG, which claims it has dual headquarters in San Francisco and Fort Worth, Texas, declined to comment to CoStar News. Cushman & Wakefield declined further comment.
TPG and PAG completing the sale of their outstanding shares means the two entities have virtually no ownership in Cushman & Wakefield.
In the offering Cushman & Wakefield filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, executives at TPG and PAG waived their rights to nominate a combined three seats on Cushman & Wakefield's board of directors for the company's 2024 annual meeting.
Cushman & Wakefield, in the SEC filing, said Coslet's decision to resign "is not due to any disagreement with the company or its management relating to the company's operations, policies or practices." TPG told Cushman & Wakefield it "will not designate a director to fill the vacancy created by Coslet's resignation," according to the filing.
In addition to not designating a director to fill the empty role, TPG has "indefinitely waived all its remaining appointment and approval rights" as part of the 2018 shareholders agreement, which through this action has now been terminated, the filing states.
Cushman & Wakefield is a behemoth with about 52,000 employees spread through nearly 400 offices in about 60 countries. Last year, the firm reported a combined revenue of $9.5 billion across its core service lines, including services, leasing, capital markets, valuation and other services. The firm manages 6.2 billion square feet of commercial real estate globally.
Story was updated June 12 to correct Coslet's title and add comment from Cushman & Wakefield.