19th Dec 2005 07:01
Savills PLC19 December 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 19 December 2005 SAVILLS STRENGTHENS ASIAN PRESENCE FURTHER INVESTMENT IN KOREAN ASSET ADVISORS AND BHP KOREA The Directors of Savills plc ("Savills" or the "Company"), the internationalproperty advisors, announce today that agreement has been reached to acquire aninitial 50% share in each of Korean Asset Advisors (KAA) and BHP Korea (BHPK)for a total initial consideration of 18.2bn Korean Won (approx £10.7m). Theacquisitions are part of Savills' strategy of growing its Asian business furtherand taking advantage of this attractive, high growth market. The investment is being made through Savills' wholly owned subsidiary, SavillsAsia Pacific Limited HK ("Savills Asia"). Savills Asia will have anunconditional option to acquire an additional 5% of each business in one year'stime based on the post-tax profit of the businesses. The agreement alsooutlines conditions for both put and call options on the remaining shares inboth businesses. The put and call option will first be exercisable in threeyear's time and the consideration will be based on the average of the profitsafter tax over the three years ending 31 December 2006, 2007 and 2008. Thetransaction is subject to Korean regulatory approval. The pre-tax profit forecast for the combined businesses for the calendar year2005 is c4.2bn Korean Won (approx £2.7m). KAA is a private Korean company, located in Seoul and specialising in PropertyManagement and Asset Management. Created and owned by Mr Hokyu Lee, it acts forinstitutional clients primarily servicing grade A office properties, with over1m square meters (10m square feet) under management. In addition, the businessoffers office and retail leasing services, together with project managementadvice. BHPK is an investment advisory, valuation and tenant representative business andoffers research consultancy services, undertaking work for clients of KAA aswell as others. Mr Hokyu Lee will remain as Chief Executive of KAA and will lead the businessthrough the next stage of development. He will also become a member of SavillsAsia's Executive Committee. Savills Asia has had a strong presence in the Asia Pacific region since Savillsacquired First Pacific Davies in 1997. Savills now has over 80 offices in 20countries including China, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan and Singapore. Today'sinvestments follow other recent corporate developments for Savills Asiaincluding the acquisition of Hampden Real Estate in Singapore and the opening ofa Savills' office in Tokyo in December 2004. Aubrey Adams, Group Chief Executive of Savills, commented: "This investment is a clear demonstration that Savills is committed to growingits Asian business. By adding these two businesses to our offering we will beable to expand into key geographical locations where we see opportunities tooffer a value added service to our investment and owner/occupier clients. Wesee Asia as a key market for Savills and look forward to growing our Asianbusiness further." Robert McKellar, Chief Executive of Savills Asia Pacific said: "I am delighted that we have been able to make this investment into the growingmarket for real estate services in Korea. Korea is the third largest economy inAsia and the eleventh largest in the world, and is a key tier one real estatemarket for Savills. Korea is increasingly seen as a major institutional marketfor real estate investment and recent changes in government regulations willincrease the opportunities for foreign asset management in the country. Inaddition to the provision of real estate services in Korea, Savills expects tobenefit from the influence that many Korean clients based in Seoul will have forreal estate services abroad. The investment by Savills into KAA and BHPK willenable Savills to become the dominant real estate provider in Korea. TheCompany's ambition is to become the leading real estate service provider in AsiaPacific." ENDS For further information, please contact: Savills plcAubrey Adams +44 (0)20 7409 9923 Citigate Dewe Rogerson +44 (0)20 7638 9571Simon RigbySarah Gestetner Savills Asia PacificRobert McKellar + 852 2525 4418 Fleishman HillardWinnie Leung + 852 2530 0203 Notes to editors: Savills plc is a leading international property services company with a fulllisting on the London Stock Exchange. The company has undergone dynamic growthin recent years establishing itself as a powerful player on the internationalstage with offices and associates throughout the UK, Europe, Asia Pacific andAfrica. In addition, Savills' strategic alliance with top US full service realestate advisory company, Trammell Crow Company, in North America, means thatclients have access to a network of offices in the US and Canada. Savills is the trading name for the property service subsidiaries of Savills plcwhich advise on commercial, rural, residential and leisure properties. Otherservices include corporate finance advice, fund management and a range ofproperty related financial services. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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