Pat Gunne's defection from CB Richard Ellis to Green Property Company is being seen as a serious blow to the commercial agency which has had a runaway success in recent years.
Though still only in his early thirties, Pat made his name when he secured the hugely valuable CBRE international franchise for his late father's business. That brought the Ballsbridge agency into the big time and with the commercial market hopping, Pat went on to sell the entire business to CBRE at the very height of the market for €25 million.
It was a nice reward for having increased the fee income from €3 million in 1997 to €36 million a decade later. Pat was also spot on when he offloaded Gunne's residential business before there were any storm clouds on the horizon. His also had a stake in Myhome.ie when it was sold to The Irish Times.
Pat's decision to leave the estate agency business at this difficult time was not entirely unexpected though the rumour machine had suggested that he would be going to Quinlan Private rather than Green Property.
It was a perfect choice because the cash-rich development company - its investment portfolio alone is worth €1.2 billion - is in perfect shape to mop up heavily discounted commercial properties in Ireland and the UK over the next few years.
The last major push by Green was masterminded by the former St Quintan estate agent Stephen Vernon who is still happily running the show along with Jim McKenna. However, Vernon and McKenna would be the first to acknowledge that a company with Green's assets and resources needs someone young with fresh ideas to take it to the next level. Pat is the ideal choice.
Back at CBRE, all the talk is about who will succeed him as the lead investment agent. Don't be surprised to see his younger brother, Andrew, step into his shoes, given that he is extremely popular with his colleagues and has an impressive track record.
The job could also be filled by the highly experienced Ronan Webster but given his heavy (and profitable) involvement with top developers, investors and banks it is doubtful that the agency would risk moving him from this lucrative area.
