Sheds in focus as CBRE takes over M3

The UK has recently dominated the investment market in the industrial sector, and CB Richard Ellis clearly sees this as a key service area – it has completed its takeover of industrial property advisory specialists M3.

M3, which was founded in 2000 by two ex-Gerald Eve agents, Richard Moffitt and Simon Milner, has offices in London, Birmingham and Sheffield and is regarded as the leading player in this sector in the UK, says CBRE. The 20-person M3 team will be integrated into CBRE and operate under the CBRE brand.

The UK accounted for more than half of the total industrial investment turnover in Europe during 2009 and the recovery in the industrial market in the second half of 2009 was “very heavily concentrated” in the UK, CBRE notes, accounting for 54% of European industrial transactions in the second half of the year.

“In an environment where investors are particularly focussed on quality and length of income as well as market depth, the UK continues to be particularly attractive,” the group adds.