CBRE acquires independent Oxfordshire property agency VSL

Published by

Peter Davison

Independent commercial property agency VSL and Partners Limited has been acquired by American commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE.

Based in Oxford, VSL is a market-leading commercial property consultancy that provides a comprehensive range of services to landlords and occupiers in the Oxfordshire area.

Its expertise spans the Office and Industrial & Logistics property types with extensive experience in meeting the needs of occupiers in the life sciences and technology sector.

VSL will be integrated into the CBRE UK Advisory business and will report to Ross Howard, CBRE’s UK Markets COO and MD of CaMKOx (Cambridge, Milton Keynes and Oxford). VSL will continue to operate from its existing offices.

Tom Barton, director, VSL (pictured) commented: “CBRE is a world-class real estate advisor and we are truly excited about the opportunities to join forces with them. We look forward to working collaboratively with CBRE to serve clients and grow our business in CaMKOx and beyond.”

Richard Venables, director, VSL added: “Our team’s detailed market knowledge, combined with CBRE’s national and international resources, will allow us to offer an even more extensive service to our established client base and new customers.”

Ciaran Bird, CBRE's divisional president, advisory services, UK & Ireland, said: "The acquisition of VSL is part of our strategy to grow our capabilities in the CaMKOx region, encompassing Oxford.

"This is a highly significant market, centered in one of the fastest-growing economies in the UK, that is seeing increased demand from tech and life sciences occupiers, as well as significant real estate development opportunities."

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.