KUALA LUMPUR: Three senior executives of property consultancy firm CB Richard Ellis (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (CBRE) have announced that they will trade under the Savills name in Malaysia from March 1.

In a statement yesterday, Savills Malaysia said the operating businesses of CBRE executive chairman Christopher Boyd, managing director Allan Soo and executive director Paul Khong in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor will change names and trade under the Savills name.

“We are delighted to be joining forces with Savills. We felt the time was right for us to combine our own market knowledge and client base with Savills’ know-how through the strategic sale of a stake in our business,” said Boyd in a statement yesterday.

“We chose Savills as our partner as they have a very good cultural fit with our own team and an excellent Asia-Pacific and global platform within which we could work,” he added.

Boyd will remain as executive chairman of the rebranded Savills Malaysia. Soo will take up his post as managing director of Savills Malaysia, while Khong will be its deputy managing director.

“The merger sees the discontinuation of the business’ association with CBRE/CB Richard Ellis, although the Malaysian operations will continue to service long-standing joint appointments by agreement,” said Savills Malaysia.

Savills chief executive officer for Southeast Asia, Chris Marriott, said the partnership in Malaysia comes after its expansion into Indonesia.

Under the new partnership, the group’s businesses will be known as Savills (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Savills (KL) Sdn Bhd, Savills (Penang) Sdn Bhd, Savills (Johor) Sdn Bhd, and Savills (Project Management) Sdn Bhd.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on February 17, 2015.