Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co. said on Monday that it has hired an investment bank to explore a potential sale of the company.
The commercial real estate brokerage said it has brought on San Francisco-based JMP Securities to explore strategic alternatives, having already received interest from potential buyers.
“We have received unsolicited inquiries, and decided that a formal process is in the best interest of all of our constituents,” said Grubb & Ellis Chairman C. Michael Kojaian, the company’s largest individual shareholder.
Shares in the company, which have been battered by the commercial real estate downturn, jumped on the news, rising more than 14% in afterhours trading. The company counts a market value of about $70 million.
A sale of Grubb & Ellis would mark another chapter in a company that’s seen its share of change the past few years.
The company’s still dealing with issues from its combination with Santa Ana-based NNN Realty Advisors Inc., which came near the peak of the market in 2007.
Grubb & Ellis was the surviving entity in the deal, which prompted a move of its headquarters from Chicago to Orange County.
The company said last month it’s starting a company—Daymark Realty Advisors—to manage the assets it got through the deal with NNN Realty.
Daymark is being run as a separate business and is based in Santa Ana. It’s set up to manage about 8,700 apartments and 33 million square feet of commercial space bought through NNN Realty-sponsored tenant-in-common funds.
