Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co. said on Friday it agreed to sell all of the assets of Alesco Global Advisors, a real estate investment fund business it owned, to New York-based Lazard Asset Management LLC.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Alesco is an investment advisor that focuses on real estate securities and manages three registered mutual funds.
Grubb bought a 51% interest in Alesco in 2007. Terms of that deal called for Grubb to invest up to $20 million in seed capital into real estate funds that Alesco planned to launch.
The 2007 agreement also called for Grubb to purchase up to an additional 27% interest in Alesco for $15 million, on the achievement of certain earn-out provisions. Those earn-out targets were not achieved, according to regulatory filings.
The deal with Lazard comes as Grubb continues to seek out potential new sources of funding, or a merger partner, for its core commercial real estate brokerage business. It’s also looking to sell its Daymark Realty Advisors subsidiary.
