A new name enters the market for truly pan-European facilities management, following yesterday's announcement of a strategic alliance between FPDSavills and Dallas based Trammell Crow Company. As part of the agreement Trigon, the wholly owned FM subsidiary of FPDSavills, will be re-named Trammell Crow Savills.

This deal brings together corporate real estate and operational expertise at a time when both the property and FM industries are beginning to talk each other's language. The partners say that it will create a team with all the skills and resources to meet clients' needs for critical business support services throughout Europe.

There are three principle strands to the agreement: the appointment of two Trammell Crow Company Directors to the board of Savills; the purchase of initially 10% of Savills' shares by Trammell Crow Company from First Pacific Company for around £14m, reducing First Pacific Company's shareholding in Savills to just under 20%; and the setting up of a new European outsourcing joint venture company, to be branded Trammell Crow Savills withTrammell Crow Company holding 51% of the equity and 49% going to FPDSavills.

It is this new company which has acquired both Trigon and the European Corporate Services team of FPDSavills, which together had operating profits of £181,000 for the year to April 1999 and net assets of £230,000.

Richard Buckley, MD Trammell Crow Savills

Trammell Crow Savills will deliver facilities management, project management, transaction management and real estate outsourcing solutions to multi-national companies. The initial emphasis will be on Europe, in particular US companies with European portfolios, but the new company will be looking to exploit opportunities in Asia-Pacific and Australia in the near future. Richard Buckley, Trigon's MD and now a Managing Director of Trammell Crow Savills, has been looking for the right partner for some time, to provide both the financial resources for major outsourcing transactions and a portfolio for the company's management expertise.

Trigon was formed in 1994 as a joint venture FM company by Savills and Castle View, Savills acquired Castle View's interest in June last year. Trigon, with 180 staff and sales of £20m, has established a strong track record providing strategic and operational facilities management and property consultancy to blue-chip organisations, including Cisco Systems, Powergen, Ernst & Young, BP Amoco, NCR, British Airways, and Unisys.

However, to offer the Europe-wide support that trans-national clients are increasingly seeking, Trigon needed to forge an international alliance and according to Buckley this partnership is off to a strong start :

"In practical terms, the joint venture is up and running now. Both existing and new clients have full access to the skills and services for which Trigon is well known in the UK, combined with Trammell Crow Company's facilities outsourcing capabilities and FPDSavills' highly regarded corporate real estate advisory team. This puts us in the ideal position to work with any company, delivering European real estate outsourcing solutions."

Trigon's recent contract wins include a three-year contract to manage a wide range of facilities services for international technology company Unisys. The agreement covers 13 sites, including the UK headquarters in Uxbridge, totalling nearly 40,000 sq m of floor space. Trigon works in conjunction with the in-house FM team to manage all aspects of building operation and maintenance, ensuring that Unisys has both efficient and cost-effective accommodation.

The company also secured a three-year facilities management contract at BA’s Didsbury Park call centre, where it is responsible for essential business services, including reception, security, cleaning and mechanical & electrical systems in support of the 7 day a week operation.

In London, Trigon is challenging the dominance of traditional surveying firms after being appointed to lead the team providing both facilities and property management at Daiwa Europe’s new 22,000 sq m HQ, widely regarded as one of the highest quality office buildings to be constructed in the City this decade.

Trammell Crow Company (TCC) is one of the largest diversified commercial real estate service companies in the United States. Founded in 1948 it grew through the 1980s to become one of the biggest property developers in the US. The company reported net income of $54.4m (£35.5m) on revenues of $687.4m (£449.3m) for the year to December.

TCC is a leading provider of facilities management and other outsourcing services in North America, with over 2,000 employees servicing 25,000 properties for around 90 clients. The outsourcing business saw an almost 88% growth in pre-tax income between 1998 and 1999.
Last year Microsoft chose TCC to provide facilities management services for its new 48,000 sq m (515,000 sq ft) Silicon Valley Campus, continuing a relationship which began in 1992.

Comerica Incorporated selected TCC to provide comprehensive outsourcing services for its 436,600 sq m (4.7m sq ft) portfolio of office facilities, operations centres, and bank branches in Michigan, Texas, California and Florida. The contract covers more than 400 Comerica sites and 800 ATM locations. TCC also secured a facilities management services assignment for AT&T's 270,000 sq m (2.9 million sq ft) office portfolio in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

In Europe, a joint venture with a local FM company signed the first long-term FM outsourcing contract of its kind with MATAV Hungarian Telecommunications. Services will include facilities management and engineering services for more than 2,500 telephone and power supply sites covering five million square feet.

FPDSavills is part of Savills plc which provides property and corporate finance advice, property and venture capital funding and a range of property related financial services. Savills acquired First Pacific Davies, a subsidiary of the First Pacific Company, last month. International business is conducted through the FPDSavills network of offices comprising around 11,000 professionals based in over 124 offices in 23 countries.

The FPDSavills European Corporate Services team, which will move into Trammell Crow Savills, is based in London and provides strategic advice to multinational companies on their real estate across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Current clients include Getronics, British Telecom and Network Associates.

Richard Byatt

For more information visit:

www.trigon-fm.com

www.trammellcrow.com

www.fpdsavills.co.uk