The big news for the Bayley Corporation in the past year was the Bayleys Realty Group buying out the New Zealand interests of global property consultancy Knight Frank for an undisclosed sum.
As part of the deal, Bayleys entered a strategic partnership with the privately owned international property consultancy, based in London.
The deal announced in August last year means Bayleys now has greater exposure to international markets for its clients across residential, rural and commercial property sectors, with Knight Frank’s 400 offices in 60 markets around the world. Bayleys’ research shows overseas funds have bought half of the total sales in New Zealand of commercial and industrial property of over $20 million since 2014.
The New Zealand acquisition saw 60 Knight Frank staff join Bayleys commercial and industrial team, adding to Bayleys’ property management services and advisory capabilities in Auckland, especially in Christchurch where the valuations team more than doubled in size.
The company, which prides itself on operating across all property asset classes, has 93 offices around the country and an office in Fiji. It saw 10 provincial franchise offices under the Bayleys umbrella, relocate into newer, bigger premises during the year in towns including Napier, Turangi and Frankton in Queenstown. A number of new franchise ownership structures meanwhile formed in Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Whanganui and Ruapehu and Dunedin, among others.
The Bayley Corporation, which owns Bayleys Real Estate, was founded in 1973 by the late Graham and Pam Bayley and their son John, who remains on the board. Bayleys' first office was in Papatoetoe and much of its early business revolved around the commercial and residential development of former farmland in the South Auckland region. The focus switched to commercial and industrial real estate in the 1980s after an office was established in Auckland's central business district.
Brothers John and David Bayley also pushed into new offshore markets for New Zealand property in the Middle East and South East Asia after the 1987 sharemarket crash.
There are 11 Bayley family members involved in the family business these days, whether at board, managerial or corporate level and also in sales and administration positions. They include Mike Bayley, the managing director of Bayley and a board member, Chris Bayley, director international sales and investment sales, Tony Bayley, group licensee and Bayley Corporation Agency Compliance manager, and Mark Macky and Kristy Macky, brother and sister franchise owners.
Private equity firm Direct Capital bought a 31% stake in Bayley in 2010, with the largest shareholders John and David partially divesting their stakes to 21.91% and 21.24% respectively, and raising new capital for expansion. An initial public offer of the real estate group was touted for a while after that but is thought to be well off the table given the state of the property industry and market volatility.
Bayleys’ Property Services division, the largest commercial property manager in New Zealand, manages property worth more than $3 billion. In February it was appointed to manage a number of buildings in the Viaduct and Wynyard Quarter including the head offices of Fonterra, Air New Zealand, Datacom, KPMG and Microsoft.
The Bayleys Foundation supports more than 300 charitable and not-for-profit organisations regionally, and is an elite sponsorship partner for Make-A-Wish NZ which creates life-changing wishes for Kiwi chlidren with criticial illnesses. The foundation's website said it donates over $1.5m a year to various organisations.
2018: $420 million