Romanian real estate consultancy firm The Advisers, led by Horatiu Florescu – one of the top real estate brokers in Romania -, will change its name to Knight Frank, as it formally becomes part of the British group.

The Advisers and Knight Frank have been working together in Romania since May 2009. Formally, Horatiu Florescu’s firm was the local associate office for Knight Frank, which is the world‘s largest independent property group.

“After six successful years together, we are delighted to officially become Knight Frank Romania, and look forward to expanding our presence and success in the local real estate market, under the leadership of Horatiu Florescu,” said Chris Bell, managing director of Europe at Knight Frank.

The firm’s ownership remains the same for now. Romanians Horatiu Florescu and Monica Barbu founded The Advisers at the beginning of 2009, after working for more than ten years for Colliers Romania.

The Knight Frank team Florescu is now leading specializes in office, capital markets, retail, industrial and land advisory services, as well as valuation, and will add corporate residential to its services.

The company says it is the market leader on the office segment in Romania. In terms of total leasing activity, in 2015 Knight Frank Romania has already signed circa 65,000 sqm office space, out of which over 57,000 sqm for IT&C sector alone. Its biggest deals this year have been Oracle’s expansion in SkyTower (10,400 sqm) and Genpact pre-lease of up to 25,000 sqm in Hermes Business Campus.

Headquartered in London, Knight Frank, together with its US alliance partner, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, operate from over 335 offices in 52 countries, and has over 12,000 employees.

What were the main developments on the Romanian real estate market in 2014?

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com