New challenge for Carulli, Stanisis

After nearly 13 years at the helm of boutique commercial property agency NSC Corporate, joint managing directors Steve Carulli and Nick Stanisis are shutting-up shop to join global property player Jones Lang LaSalle.

The partners signed over their agency business to JLL in a deal this week and will take 31 staff with them, effectively making JLL the largest commercial agency in Western Australia with a total of 180 staff.

NSC Corporate will dissolve from January 2 2007 but will continue to work from its Allendale Square office in the short-term while arrangements are made for the merger.

The private deal will allow Mr Carulli and Mr Stanisis to become joint managing directors of JLL’s WA business while former JLL managing director, Graham Kennedy, will take on the national head of advisory role.

Mr Carulli told WA Business News his and Mr Stanisis’ enthusiasm about the move was tempered somewhat by the loss of the brand they established in May 1994 out of the Knight Frank/Hooker Corporate merger.

Having received a number of offers over the years to sell the business, Mr Carulli said the thought of any merger was not a high priority, but the JLL offer made four months ago was too good to pass up.

“This financial year has been our biggest year ever. We were planning to introduce an evaluations division and continue to grow the business,” he said. “But you get the feeling our point of difference was narrowing in the market, and you can’t keep playing the ‘boutique specialist’ card.”
Establishing a Sydney presence was also a goal for the agency, however the joint directors were reluctant to move there.

Mr Carulli said what attracted the pair to JLL was its good cultural fit with NSC, and the opportunity to steer a bigger ship and grow its institutional services.

JLL Australia chief executive Christine Bartlett said in a statement the acquisition would bring considerable value to its shareholders and would deepen its agency strength within WA.

“I see great opportunities in the Australian market for Jones Lang LaSalle in emerging sectors such as health and aged care, project and development services and sustainability,” she said.

The NSC Corporate acquisition follows other significant international acquisitions by JLL during the past 12 months, including US construction, investment and agency business Spaulding & Slye in January, UK agency Rogers and Chapman in May and RSP Group in Dubai.