DTZ was a London-based

commercial property Commercial property, also called commercial real estate, investment property or income property, is real estate (buildings or land) intended to generate a Profit (economics), profit, either from capital gains or Renting, rental income. Commercial ...

company. Tracing its origins back to 1853, it merged with

Cushman & Wakefield Cushman & Wakefield Inc. is an American global Commercial property, commercial real estate services firm. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois. Cushman & Wakefield is among the world's largest commercial real est ...

in 2015 and its brand was retired.

History

Debenham & Tewson was established in London in 1853. In 1913 it merged with Chinnock, Clarke & Chinnock to form Debenham, Tewson & Chinnocks. In 1987, Debenham, Tewson & Chinnocks was listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. In 1993, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

was formed with Jean Thouard of France, and the Zadelhoff Group of Germany and the Netherlands, forming DTZ.

Timothy Melville-Ross Sir Timothy David Melville-Ross (born October 1944) is a British businessman who was CEO of Nationwide Building Society from 1985 to 1994 and went on to hold the role of chairman at several major companies, often simultaneously. Before and after ...

(previously chair of

Nationwide Building Society Nationwide Building Society is a British mutual financial institution and the largest building society in the world. As of 2024, it serves over 16 million members and operates entirely for their benefit, without shareholders. The society was e ...

and director-general of the

Institute of Directors The Institute of Directors (IoD) is a British professional organisation for company directors, senior business leaders and entrepreneurs. It is the UK's longest running organisation for professional leaders, having been founded in 1903 and inco ...

) was chairman of the board for a period around 2005. In December 2011, parent company DTZ Holdings was placed into administration and its business entities were sold to UGL in order to repay 77.5m of an outstanding 106m debt owed to

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...

. The shareholders' equity was wiped out after a deal with majority shareholder Saint George Participations and BNP Paribas Real Estate fell through. The company was reportedly worth almost 500m around 2006. The company was in financial difficulty after a spending spree prior to a financial crisis, buying Rockwood in the US and retail agent Donaldsons. In November 2014, DTZ was sold to a consortium of

TPG Capital TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm in ...

, PAG and the

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board () is an independent organization responsible for administering defined benefit pension plan, defined-benefit pensions for school teachers of the provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of ...

. On 1 September 2015

and DTZ merged, and the DTZ brand was retired. DTZ Investors continues as an entity of Cushman & Wakefield and operates as a full-service vertically integrated real estate manager.

References

{{Real estate in the United Kingdom Commercial real estate companies Companies based in London Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Property companies based in London Property management companies Property services companies of the United Kingdom Real estate companies established in 1853 Real estate services companies of the United States 1853 establishments in England 2015 disestablishments in England