Real estate firm takeover still rumored - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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Grubb & Ellis, said earlier this montjh that it had terminated talks withan "unrelated thirsd party." Officials at CBRE's corporate office in Los Angeles wouls neither confirm nor deny the negotiations, fuelinhg speculation that Grubb & Ellis' vagu e reference to a "third meant a suitor other than CBRE. Grubb & Ellis CEO Barryy Barovick indicated thatprice wasn't the issue that dividesd it and the third party, rather differences in "vision regarding the industry in general, and our integratedd business model in particular.
" Barovick added that it had became "increasingly apparent that there were significant overlaps of personnel and which led us to believe that too many of our all of whom we greatly would not be retained." Barovick told GlobeSt.com's John Salustro that "Grubb & Ellis is not for In fact, it was nevetr up for sale. The potential mergefr partner camein unsolicited. But if there was anotherd unsolicited offer, we would have the fiduciaryg responsibility to our shareholders toconsider it.
" Salustri "no one at Grubb & Elliw would state for the record what insiders have confirme -- that it was indeed CB Richard Elliw who had the firm in its acquisition John Lewinger, co-owner of the Albuquerque Grubb & Ellizs office, confirmed that the companuy has made no secre of its interest in a purchase and that it has been in othee talks with at least three potential buyers in the past Sixty-seven percent of the firm is owned by an investment company that has held the investmentg for several years and thoser investors might be interested in a said Lewinger. He added that his business has receivede purchase offers in the past fromnationalo firms.
During all of the receng innuendo about a potential deal with twonational firms, which he didn't want to called him. "They thought we mightg be interested in an associationh with them if the merger took Lewinger said. He admits that there are a numbed of nationalcompanies he'd consider if he were put in the positionj of having to decide what to do shouls Grubb & Ellis merge with a competito who already had an Albuquerque The national affiliation with Grubb Ellis, said Lewinger, providea his firm with educational networking and access to national Based on market size and the client activity the national affiliation might bring his firm, Lewinger said he pays an annuaol fee to the corporate headquarters for that Nationally, Grubb & Ellis reported a first quarter 2002 net loss of $5.
2 millionj or 35 cents per diluted before non-recurring charges, compare d with a net loss of or 6 cents per diluted common for the same period last year. Barovick said the economic slowdownn continued to impactthe firm'se revenues during the Total revenue for the nine monthws that ended on March 31, were $236.3 million, down about 28 percent from the $330 millio n in revenues for the same time in 2001. Earnings befored interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for Q1 2002 showeed a loss of $5.7 millio n before non-recurring charges, versus income of $1.5 million for the firstg quarterof 2001.
Grubbn & Ellis says it has more than 8,000 peoplre in more than 200 officew in30 countries. The local CBRE office is one ofthreew "partner offices" owned by an out of statwe investor who also owns the Fresno, Calif. and Salt Lake City CBRE Formerly a publiclyheld company, CBRE went privatw last summer. CBRE's corporatde parent, , said it generated revenuez totaling $224 million during Q1 2002, an 18 percenft decline from Q1 2001. EBITDA for the quarterf totaled $11.1 million, a 21 percent decrease from results reportefd inQ1 2001. During the first quartef of last year, said the CBRE financial release, the company recorded a $5.
4 million net gain from the sale of amortgages fund. Excluding this one time gain, EBITD A increased "by $2.5 million or 29 percent during the firsty quarter of 2002 as comparedto 2001," according to the company's May 14, 2002 CBRE says it "serves real estate investors and occupiers" through 221 offices in 47 countriea and employs 9,700 worldwide.