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(Adds byline, comment about deal)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, April 26 (Reuters) - Equiem, an Australian firm
that offers tenant services for office buildings, has acquired
the property management platform of British Land Co Plc
, a deal that marks a shift in how landlords address
their real estate needs.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed in a statement
by the two companies released on Monday.
British Land, the largest UK real estate investment trust,
acquired an equity stake of less than 10% in Equiem in exchange
for the Vicinitee property management platform, a source
familiar with the deal said.
The acquisition is the latest flurry involving
property-focused start-ups known as "PropTech" firms, a sector
that in the first quarter raised $4.5 billion of investment, or
double the quarterly average in 2019, and had more than 40 M&A
transactions, according to GCA Advisors in San Francisco.
Vicinitee will be key for Equiem to capture growing demand
by landlords for technology that streamlines commercial real
estate operations and enhances the tenant experience, said
Gabrielle McMillan, the New York-based chief executive of
Equiem.
"It's a digital interface for your building that becomes a
remote control for all the things you need in a post-COVID
world," McMillan said.
The deal increases Equiem's scale to 500 buildings in
Europe, North America and Australia, expands its product line
and deepens an existing partnership with British Land, which
owns and manages prime London office assets, she said.
It follows Boston-based HqO, a tenant experience operating
system, which two weeks ago raised $60 million to expand its
operations. Real estate software and data firm View The Space
Inc in March bought Rise Buildings, another tenant experience
operator, for about $100 million, the Wall Street Journal said,
citing sources.
A secular shift involving how technology is used to package,
manage and distribute property assets, in this case office
space, is occurring, Marcus Moufarrige, founder of software firm
Ility, an operating system for commercial real estate, said of
the Equiem deal.
"The problem is the (property) services now have to be
offered through technology which they have not had the
capability of doing," Moufarrige said of building owners.
Tenant experience apps initially provided tenants
information about food and other services in a building. During
the pandemic the apps have allowed landlords to communicate to
their tenants about a building's hygiene, air quality and other
safety issues.
Property management software coordinates and keeps track of
myriad data about tenant accounts, leasing information, building
entry and security, HVAC management and maintenance workflow.
(Reporting by Herbert Lash; editing by Diane Craft and Emelia
Sithole-Matarise)
