Commercial real estate powerhouse snags fast-growing Vertical Integration
By Margie Manning
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Apr 22, 2015

Commercial real estate powerhouse Savills Studley has acquired one of the Tampa Bay area's fastest-growing firms, woman-owned Vertical Integration Inc.

Ann Duncan, president and founder of Vertical Integration, and her team will join Savills Studley and Duncan will become head of the company's occupier services, a statement said.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A "red-hot” property investment environment, soaring company valuations and globalization have increased mergers and acquisitions among commercial real estate brokerages and service providers, according to Investors.com. The recent merger of Cassidy Turley and DTZ is one example. Savills Studley itself was created when London-based Savills PLC bought New York-based Studley last year. Savills Studley specializes in tenant representation, while Vertical Integration has built and maintains a national benchmarking database on the real estate programs and practices of state governments.

Vertical Integration ranked No. 16 on the Tampa Bay Business Journal's Fast 50 in 2014, and the company was included in a list of the top 50 women-led for-profits in Florida in a survey by The Commonwealth Institute of South Florida and accounting firm Kaufman Rossin.

Margie Manning is Print Editor of the Tampa Bay Business Journal. She also covers the Money beat.