Experts have welcomed Savills’ £827m acquisition of US real estate investment bank Eastdil Secured as “potentially transformative” for both parties and said it puts the firm in “the top tier globally for commercial deals”.
The deal, announced during the Mipim property conference in the south of France last week, takes London-based advisory firm Savills from seventh to second place in the global real estate transactional rankings, and to number one in the US.
“This acquisition looks potentially transformative for both Savills and Eastdil Secured,” said Joe Spooner, equity research analyst at Shore Capital.
“Strategically, the two organisations almost look to have been destined to be together; they have complementary footprints with minimal overlap of services, locations or clients, plus, according to both managements, similar cultures.”
New York-founded Eastdil is the leading adviser on big US real estate deals and also has a sizeable presence in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as a small Asia Pacific base. Savills’ revenue is split 59% from Europe and the Middle East, 28% from Asia Pacific and 13% from North America.
“The deal provides a path for Savills to enter the property sales market in the US, where it was lacking,” said Jeffrey Langbaum, senior REIT/CRE analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
“Savills previously had a presence in the US on the leasing side, but couldn’t compete in terms of brokering purchases and sales of properties. This makes it a more viable, well-rounded competitor to the large brokers in the US – CBRE, JLL, Cushman & Wakefield – than it was previously.”
Simon Shaw, Savills chief executive
The deal gives the firm an opportunity to refocus its strategy under new chief executive Simon Shaw, who took up the role at the start of the year.
“It’s a significant strategic move for us,” Shaw told Property Week. “It addresses a significant number of our strategic aims at one fell swoop. It’s immediately earnings accretive. It’s a really good fit with our organisation and our strategic direction in investment banking.”
Eastdil generated £470m of revenue in 2025, up 31% year-on-year, helped by higher real estate activity in US capital markets. According to MSCI Real Capital Analytics, Eastdil was the number one adviser on real estate deals over $100m in the US between 2021-2025.
The company focuses on large, complex deals and its top 20 clients, which include Blackstone, Brookfield, GIC and Greystar, have about $1.6tn (£1.1tm) of commercial real estate under management.
Clyde Lewis, deputy head of research at Peel Hunt, said: “The Eastdil deal is a game changer, in our view. It plugs a large US hole and takes Savills to the top tier globally for commercial deals.
“Prior to the deal, Savills had a material gap around strategic advisory and M&A, and was weak in disposal advisory, recapitalisations and in debt financing.
“While the Eastdil deal does not bring any consultancy, investment management or property/facilities management, it does bring major skills on the transaction and advisory side, making the top half of the pyramid as complete as the lower part.”
Chris Millington, research analyst at DB Numis, added: “We think the strategic rationale is strong; it better aligns Savills’ geographic profile to global real estate activity, it enhances/broadens service capabilities and could give rise to notable revenue synergies.
“While the deal adds to Savills’ short-term risk profile and execution will be critical, we think this is more than outweighed by its upside potential. The deal increases Savills’ exposure to the expected recovery in real estate transactions.”
The deal is expected to be completed by Q4 2026 and £274m of the cost is being settled through the issue of new Savills shares to Eastdil’s owners. A further £411m is being paid in cash and Savills will assume £142m of debt from Eastdil.
A total of 85 Eastdil senior employees will own 6.3% of the company. Temasek will own 4%, Guggenheim Investments will own 5%, and Wells Fargo will own 0.5%.
As part of the deal, Eastdil has also announced a string of senior leadership changes to enable the takeover. The firm will continue operating its existing business model within Savills Group and will maintain key headquarters in New York, Santa Monica and London.
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