King Sturge and Chainlinks Embrace Global Retail Market
29 September 2008
King Sturge LLP has formed a unique alliance with ChainLinks Retail Advisors, the leading retail property advisors in North America.
King Sturge LLP has formed a unique alliance with ChainLinks Retail Advisors, the leading retail property advisors in North America and the largest private organisation in the world specialising solely in retail real estate and restaurant and hospitality services. This alliance will provide clients on both sides of the Atlantic with access to a full range of retail specialists and services.
ChainLinks Retail Advisors was founded in 1979 and has 32 member companies spread across 64 offices in the US. These are all privately-owned independent companies who are the best within their markets and comprise an organisation of over 600 retail brokers. Since January 2006, they have leased or sold over 143m sq ft of retail space and over 15,000 acres for commercial development.
King Sturge, which first met ChainLinks at international retail exhibition MAPIC last year, will provide the UK/European dimension, drawing on its 80+ retail experts in the UK and network of specialists across 51 offices in Europe. The firm’s strategy is to grow its retail offer to become the best available and to that end it has already acquired two UK retail agencies this year: Leslie Furness and Hamilton Glen.
King Sturge will be a shareholder in ChainLinks and the largest firm in the organisation. No separate brand name will be used for the alliance although it will be widely publicised on marketing materials.
Charles Miller, National Head of In-Town Retail at King Sturge, said: “Our alliance with ChainLinks greatly opens up our horizons, enabling us to access a global market and a potential occupier base that we would not otherwise be able to reach. Today’s global consumer expects to have access to different brands; retailers need new locations in which to achieve better margins and landlords want new entrants as a point of difference. The retail market is global and we have to respond to that in order to better service our clients’ requirements.”
David Schulman, CEO of ChainLinks, commented: “King Sturge provides us with a perfect fit in Europe. The service overlap between our two organisations is very strong and, by sharing demographic information and on-the-spot local analysis, we can provide a highly detailed and up-to-date snapshot of retail markets across two continents.
“Most important, though, is the compatibility of our corporate cultures. Among other things, both firms are committed to the utmost pursuit of customer service, constant training and education of their agent cadre, investment in state-of-the-art technology and a long-term view of the retail horizon.”
Both King Sturge and ChainLinks provide retail services to retailers, landlords, developers and investors. In addition to pure retailing, ChainLinks’ members also advise on restaurants, hospitality (hotels) and lifestyle/urban schemes which are generally mixed-use.
In total, ChainLinks advises over 1,500 retailers and 500+ landlords on an exclusive basis in one or more markets, and since January 2006 has completed nearly 15,000 retail transactions. Some of its more high-profile clients include IKEA, H&M, Tesco, Whole Foods, Target Stores, The Home Depot, Best Buy, Costco, Walmart, Aldi, Reebok, Crate & Barrel, Max Mara, Gap, Banana Republic, Starbucks, Toys R Us, Staples Office Products, The TJ Maxx Companies, Pizza Hut/KFC, Office Depot, Versace, Kate Spade, Furla and Etro.
Landlord clients of ChainLinks include Simon Property Group, Kimco Property Group, Regency Centers, Invesco, LaSalle Investment Partners, Bank of America, GE Capital, Grosvenor Properties, Developers Diversified Realty, General Growth Properties, Archon Group (a Goldman Sachs company) and Forest City Enterprises.
King Sturge’s retail business has a turnover of over £20m and advises some of the UK’s most active landlords, including Land Securities, Brookfield, Modus, Centros, Morley, Legal & General, Hammerson and Prudential. It also represents such prominent retailers/operators as House of Fraser, Tesco, Arcadia, Debenhams, AIwear, Boots, Burger King/KFC, Thomas Cook, Waterstone’s, HMV, Natuzzi, River Island, TK Maxx, HSBC, Bank of Ireland, Vision Express, Coffee Republic, EAT, Accor, Netto, Pets at Home, Halford, Wickes and Whitbread
ChainLinks has been actively looking to enter the UK/European market in recent years, but has found it difficult to identify the right partner with a similar vision and skill set. The link with King Sturge is very different from the type of tie-up and merger that UK property services firms have previously undertaken given the unique organisational structure of ChainLink’s business: providing seamless services over an international platform while simultaneously allowing its members to maintain their local nuance and business approach.
