Leading Sydney based commercial real estate group, Stonebridge Property Group, will open a Melbourne office this month, following a merger with a group of Melbourne’s leading real estate agents.

The new partnership, with former CBRE Melbourne directors, Justin Dowers and Julian White and their team, will focus on the retail and development site markets as well as a dedicated Asian services division. It will provide the merged entity with offices and highly regarded operatives in Australia’s two largest cities.

Melbourne’s new Stonebridge directors will be joined by Kevin Tong and Chao Zhang, also ex CBRE, who have completed transactions in excess of $3 billion to Asian buyers over the last five years. The pair will be instrumental in establishing Australia’s largest and most experienced dedicated Asian services practice.

Collectively, the combined Sydney and Melbourne teams have completed in excess of $15 billion in transactions over the last decade, acting for some of Australia’s largest and most respected clients.

Stonebridge was formed in Sydney in 2008 by directors Jonathan Fox, Carl Molony, Phil Gartland and Lincoln Blackledge who quickly established themselves as a major force in the sale of shopping centres and development sites in Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Gartland said the group was thrilled to have completed the merger with a team of highly regarded Melbourne agents.

``The merger with Justin Dowers and Julian White and their team will provide platforms in Australia’s two largest cities, enhance our ability to service our clients, and significantly increase our buyer reach across Australia and Asia.

The primary attraction was the complementary skillsets that the Victorian team offered. Over a long period of time they have shown market-leading agency acumen, innovation in marketing, and pioneered Asian services practices, all of which will greatly enhance the Stonebridge Property Group offering.’’ Mr Gartland said.

He said the short-term plan for the group would be to facilitate the growth of the existing core markets with a view to ensuring that the service offering to the clients was best in class.

``Everything we do starts and stops with what is best for our clients. Further growth of the business will be on that basis.’’

Mr Dowers and Mr White said they were delighted by the approach to merge with Stonebridge and become partners with its founders.

``The Stonebridge founders have built one of the most successful and highly respected privately owned commercial real estate brands in the country. We are delighted to take the opportunity to merge our two businesses and provide our clients with all the benefits that a well-resourced Sydney and Melbourne based business can offer.’’ Mr Dowers said.

Mr Dowers said the Victorian office would announce the appointment of several new, highly experienced staff at a later date.

For further information please contact:

Justin Dowers             +61 438 098 805

Julian White                +61 422 764 137

Phil Gartland               +61 403 582 324

Carl Molony                 +61 439 032 028

Jonathan Fox              +61 402 147 780

Lincoln Blackledge      +61 408 780 772

 About Stonebridge Property Group