Former Morgan Stanley dealmaker Guy Metcalfe, who worked on big commercial property sales including Blackstone's $39 billion purchase of Sam Zell’s Equity Office Properties Trust in 2007, joined CBRE's board as the brokerage looks to grow through acquisitions.
Metcalfe's appointment to the board is effective Monday, according to CBRE, the world's largest brokerage by revenue.
Metcalfe, who most recently served as managing director and global chairman of Morgan Stanley's real estate investment banking business, retired Jan. 31 from the financial giant. He worked at the firm for over 30 years and led Morgan Stanley's real estate business for nearly two decades.
At Morgan Stanley, Metcalfe advised clients on more than $850 billion of transactions while working on some of the largest deals in commercial real estate, including Blackstone’s acquisitions of Trizec Properties, Equity Office Properties, Hilton Hotels, BioMed Realty Trust and QTS Realty. He also advised Morgan Stanley on its own deals, including the disposition of its original European headquarters building at Canary Wharf and the firm's review of relocating its global headquarters in New York.
Metcalfe joins CBRE's board as the firm expands by acquiring companies, especially those that can add recurring revenue from fees paid for services such as facility management.
This month, CBRE said it reached an agreement to pay Arlington Capital Partners an initial $800 million in cash to acquire J&J Worldwide Services in a deal where total consideration could top $1 billion in 2027 if performance goals are met. J&J provides services to high-profile government-occupied facilities, including the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the U.S. Naval Academy, Brooke Army Medical Center and naval stations.
"You should expect us to continue to build the business through M&A," CBRE Chairman and CEO Bob Sulentic told investors during the firm's fourth-quarter earnings call.
"We'll do M&A where we think we can grow our business the way we want to grow it in areas with secular tailwinds. It will likely be over the long term our No. 1 use of capital," Sulentic said.
History With CBRE
As its newest director, Metcalfe comes to the board with a history of working with CBRE on transactions. CBRE said he has served as a strategic adviser to the brokerage. In fact, CBRE said Metcalfe has helped it execute capital-raising efforts, mergers and capital markets transactions.
“Guy is one of the premier strategic" advisers in the real estate industry, Sulentic said in a statement. "Our board will be greatly enhanced by his deep knowledge of and broad perspective on our sector as well as his sharp strategic thinking as we plot a course for CBRE’s continued growth.”
CBRE said Metcalfe will stand for election at its next annual stockholder meeting later this year. With his appointment, the number of CBRE board members has expanded to 12.