BGIS (formally known as Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions) is a facilities management and real estate services private company headquartered in
Markham, Ontario
Markham () is a city in Regional Municipality of York, York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Downtown Toronto. In the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 Census, Markham had a population of 338,503, which ranked it the largest in ...
, Canada, with a staff of over 10,000 globally.
BGIS' parent company is
CCMP Capital Advisorsan American private equity investment firmwho acquired the company in 2019 when
Brookfield Asset Management
Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. is a Canadian-American alternative asset manager. The company was founded in December 2022 as a spin-off of the asset management operations of Brookfield Corporation. At its inception, the company was headquarter ...
sold the company for over CAD$1.3 billion.
History
Warren S. Johnson
Warren Seymour Johnson (November 6, 1847 – December 5, 1911) was an American college professor who, frustrated by his inability to regulate individual classroom temperatures, invented a multi-zone pneumatic control system for this purpose. John ...
, who was the founder of
Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls International plc is an American, Irish-domiciled multinational conglomerate headquartered in Cork, Ireland, that produces fire, HVAC, and security equipment for buildings. As of mid-2019, it employed 105,000 people in arou ...
, then known as Johnson Electric Service Company in 1885 in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
, was the inventor of the first electric room thermostat in 1883, which helped launch the building control industry.
In 1992, Johnson Controlsa building systems and facility management companyformed a joint venture with
Brookfield Properties
Brookfield Properties is a North American subsidiary of Commercial property, commercial real estate firm Brookfield Property Partners, which itself is a subsidiary of Alternative investment, alternative asset management company Brookfield Corpor ...
called Brookfield LePage Johnson Controls (BLJC). By November 2012, BLJC changed its name to Brookfield Johnson Controls and started offering commercial property management services in Canada.
By 2012, Brookfield and Johnson Controls had become an established industry leader with 11,500 locations across Canada.
In 2013, Johnson Controls and
Brookfield Asset Management
Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. is a Canadian-American alternative asset manager. The company was founded in December 2022 as a spin-off of the asset management operations of Brookfield Corporation. At its inception, the company was headquarter ...
formed a similar joint venture in Australia and New Zealand.
In 2007, Brookfield Asset Management acquired the
Multiplex
Multiplex may refer to:
Science and technology
* Multiplex communication, combining many signals into one transmission circuit or channel
** Multiplex (television), a group of digital television or radio channels that are combined for broadcast
* ...
, an Australian international construction contracting company
founded in 1962 by
John Roberts
John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...
,
which was valued at that time at approximately A$7.3 billion.
It was renamed Brookfield Multiplex in 2016.
In 2012 Brookfield Asset Management and Johnson Controls Global WorkPlace Solutions (GWS) merged to create Brookfield Johnson Controls.
Mergers and acquisitions
In 2015, Brookfield Johnson Controls was renamed Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions (BGIS),
with Brookfield Asset Management as the ultimate parent company when it acquired control of Brookfield Johnson Controls from its joint venture partner,
Milwaukee
Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
-based Johnson Controls.
At that time, an activist investor had been putting pressure on Johnson Controls to divest its real estate division.
Brookfield Asset Management rebranding of BGIS reflected the integration of "facilities and project management services business in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The facilities management business was renamed Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions (BGIS) as part of Brookfield's plan to establish a "leading global facilities management provider".
After Brookfield took over the company in 2015, BGIS expanded rapidly.
In 2016, when BGIS acquired the US-based data centre facility management serviceMcKinstry FMSwhich had over "350 engineers, technicians, planners, and program managers", BGIS became one of the largest facility management companies serving data centres in North America.
Current operations
By 2017, when Gord Hicks was named as Toronto-based BGIS' CEO, the company had 7,000 staff members and 100 clients in the United States, the United Kingdom, Asia, and Canada, which included contracts with the Canadian federal government.
By 2022, according to a
Carleton University
Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...
School of Public Policy and Administration
A public policy school or school of public affairs is typically a university program, institution, or professional school of public policy, public administration, political science, international relations, security studies, management, urban pla ...
analysis of federal government contracts for real estate management, the Government of Canada spent over $1 billion on contracts with BGIS in 2021-2022, representing the largest vendor contracts at that time.
The vendor with the second largest federal government contracts in 2021-2022 was
IBM Canada with a contract valued at c. 476 million.
Sale of BGIS by Brookfield Asset Management to CCMP Capital
In 2019,
Brookfield Asset Management
Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. is a Canadian-American alternative asset manager. The company was founded in December 2022 as a spin-off of the asset management operations of Brookfield Corporation. At its inception, the company was headquarter ...
sold its BGIS shares to
CCMP Capital Advisors for over CAD$1.3 billion, earning them the 2020 Private Equity Deal of the Year.
Following the sale, Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions had to change its name to just "BGIS" to represent that it was no longer considered a Brookfield company.
References
{{reflist
Property management companies