Rand D. Stephens, managing director of Avison Young in Houston
Toronto and Montréal, Canada – (Realty News Report) – Mark E. Rose, Chair and CEO of the Avison Young commercial real estate services firm, announced that Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), one of Canada’s leading institutional fund managers, has made a $250-million preferred equity investment to accelerate Avison Young’s strategic growth plan.
Avison Young will use the proceeds to invest in acquisitions and the recruitment of key professionals, fuelling the company’s ongoing growth.
Avison Young’s Houston office, with Rand Stephens as managing director, opened in June 2010.
With $298.5 billion in net assets, CDPQ’s global portfolio of investments spans across various markets and sectors, including private equity, real estate and infrastructure.
“We look forward to a collaborative relationship with CDPQ and its large global network, and benefitting from the ability to share expertise, deal flow, market intelligence and resources as we continue to grow our business across the spectrum of commercial real estate services in North America and other key markets globally,” said Rose. “We are gratified by CDPQ’s support of our growth strategy, which we launched from a base of 11 offices in Canada and expanded to 84 offices across North America and Europe in just under 10 years – and growing revenue more than 15 times during that period.”
