Avison Young acquires Wilkinson Williams LLP

Paul Wilkinson, Jason Sibthorpe, Miles Marten

Avison Young has announced the acquisition of market-leading UK firm Wilkinson Williams LLP, continuing its rapid growth plans and adding retail expertise to the firm’s comprehensive UK business-line coverage.

Jason Sibthorpe, Avison Young Principal and Managing Director of the firm’s UK region, comments: “Wilkinson Williams has been leading the way for many years in the retail sector and will add fantastic gravitas, capability and coverage to our rapidly growing U.K. and global operations. The team prides itself on being the retail market leader in its space and has developed incredibly close relationships with clients – many of whom have relied upon the firm since its inception. Retail is, perhaps, the most challenged real estate sector, and it is crucial that we are able to provide our clients with intelligent and integrated advice that responds to disruption and technological challenges with innovation and educated foresight. Our clients rightly demand and expect informed advice that clearly demonstrates added value and holistic solutions.”

Since its inception in 1991, Wilkinson Williams has been the leading advisory specialist firm acting in the U.K.’s out-of-town market. Wilkinson Williams represents many leading landlords and tenants across the U.K., providing expert advice on all aspects of their respective retail warehousing and food-store property needs. The business has focused solely on the out-of-town retail sector within the U.K. and prides itself on its deep market knowledge, which is underpinned by a genuinely integrated approach involving investment, agency and lease advisory services. For the past eight years, Trevor Wood Associates has named Wilkinson Williams as the No. 1 retail warehouse property leasing agent in the research firm’s Definitive Guide to Retail and Leisure Parks publication. Wilkinson Williams is currently instructed on more than 21.5 million sq ft (2 million sq m) of accommodation. In 2017, Wilkinson Williams advised clients on investment transactions with a combined value of approximately £580 million.

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EG’s head of content David Hatcher spoke to Avison Young’s chairman and chief executive, Mark Rose; principal and UK managing director, Jason Sibthorpe and new principal and former Wilkinson Williams partner Miles Marten to discuss the drivers behind the move, the pressures of running a niche firm and the next business Avison Young is on the lookout for. Click here to listen to the interview.