First Capital today announced that it has acquired assets of Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors, a privately held affiliate of Coldwell Banker Commercial, on March 31, 2018, for an undisclosed price. The acquisition combines FC’s innovative investment platform with CBC Advisors’ national network of brokers and asset managers, propriety market intelligence, and trusted community partnerships throughout the United States, to form Advisors Commercial Real Estate.
“This acquisition provides for a unique mix of investment and brokerage within a national asset management platform,” said Suneet Singal, Chairman. “CBC has distinguished itself as a boutique brokerage platform with custom tailored solutions. Our approach to identifying unutilized value in dynamic secondary markets coupled with the credibility and trust CBC Advisors has earned in the investment community will greatly serve our investors and clients.”
ACRE includes over 150 brokers and other professionals in twelve offices, located in New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, and the Southern California communities of Los Angeles, Irvine, El Segundo, and Ontario. These offices will be servicing local, regional, and national markets. With this national footprint , ACRE leverages CBC Advisors’ scale and proprietary intelligence and management tools with First Capital’s expertise in private placement offerings and experience acquiring and repositioning assets with unutilized value in secondary markets.
“The new executive team of ACRE looks forward to joining First Capital,” said Rob Cord, the incoming president and chief executive officer of ACRE. “First Capital specializes in unlocking long-term value creation in real estate through proactive and hands-on asset management. This experience in revitalizing and relaunching assets with untapped value will be an incredible resource to our clients and brokers.” Mr. Cord transitions from president of CBC Advisors to leading the new company.
“Ensuring a seamless transition of client services and operations starts with leadership,” said Mr. Singal. “Tapping Rob Cord to lead the new company is an important first step in guaranteeing the continued focus on client priorities as our brokers’ singular code of delivery. For nearly twenty years, CBC Advisors has fostered client relationships through tailored, responsive services using the most technologically advanced management tools and data. Carrying that forward is the foremost priority of this transition.”
Prior to the acquisition, CBC Advisors was the largest commercial brokerage firm in the Coldwell Banker organization, and the top-performing Coldwell Banker Commercial affiliate globally, with over $4 billion in assets under management and a closed volume of over $2 billion in 2017. CBC Advisors’ brokers and executives are experienced in all major commercial asset types, as well as corporate, development, and international services, including mergers and acquisitions, having closed approximately $9 billion in transactions since the company’s inception.
“We built one of the fastest-growing and top-performing commercial real estate brokerages in the United States,” said Brandon Fugal, Chairman of CBC Advisors. “With offices spanning coast to coast, access to leading tools and resources as well as a full-service approach to the brokerage process, Advisors Commercial Real Estate will continue to operate as a force within the national real estate community for years to come under the direction of First Capital.”
All twelve offices will remain in the same locations, continuing operations with the same personnel and broker-client relationships.
Mr. Singal, Chairman of First Capital, brings significant real estate experience to overseeing ACRE. Beginning his real estate finance career in 2001, he merged with a real estate lending platform in 2006 and, over the next two years, grew the combined company to over $1 billion per year in real estate loan originations, with business in over 40 states. From 2007 to 2011, Mr. Singal obtained entitlement approvals for a multitude of development assets in multiple industry sectors creating over $250 million of value. After 2011, he vertically integrated his real estate investment firm growing the company to $300 million in assets under management. In 2015, Mr. Singal entered into the public markets with the acquisition of a public Non-Traded REIT, where he grew the REIT’s asset base by several hundred million dollars and introduced his investment thesis in real estate development as the strategy to increase net asset value for shareholders. In 2017, Mr. Singal was the founder of a publicly traded real estate operating company on Nasdaq currently run by institutional managers.
About First Capital Master Advisor
First Capital is a privately held commercial and residential real estate finance firm. Since its inception it has developed into a vertically-integrated company, First Capital is actively involved in real estate acquisition, land development, residential and commercial construction, and retail operations. Some of the First Capital Companies sponsor various public and private market products including a public Non Traded REIT (First Capital Real Estate Trust Incorporated, or FCRETI). First Capital also has private holdings including development projects, and other real estate assets.
About Advisors Commercial Real Estate
Advisors Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) is a privately held full-service commercial brokerage which delivers client success by outperforming the market. ACRE leverages proprietary intelligence and management tools with a multidisciplinary expertise in all facets of major commercial asset types, corporate services, international services, and mergers and acquisitions, as well as marketing and advisory and consulting services. With over 150 brokers and asset managers in twelve offices throughout the United States, ACRE delivers insights and expertise into markets for owners, buyers, tenants, and other clients, at a local, regional, national level, and international level.
